A "Strawman" Systems Development Proposal Open Science Lab//Data Acquisition Equipment for Psychophysiology/Quantified Self Health/Fitness Data Recording

Ira Laefsky

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Jun 18, 2012, 9:34:42 PM6/18/12

to physi...@googlegroups.com

I am making this proposal in the spirit of a "Strawman", to learn the shared goals among our "Physiosense" group and to determine what is possible with the capabilities we already have or may soon acquire in Physiology Data Acquisition and Measurement. Please let me know what subset or superset of these goals is possible and what desires/aims we share rather than just telling me what is impossible or what already exists elsewhere.

Emery Premeaux (MRE), our group owner, has presented the notion of Open Science./Open Lab Hardware on his blog and the possibility that hobbyist and Open Hardware Engineers can design inexpensive, powerful and cost-effective to meet the needs both of hobbyist science, and academic/professional laborabotories where the cost of existing laboratory equipment is prohibitive. In our area of interest

electro/psycho/physiology equipment and self-tracking for the heallth & fitness enthusiast there is an existing set of laboratory data acquisition equipment such as http://www.biopac.com/data-acquisition-analysis-system-mp150-system-windows which allow attaching multiple analog physiology sensors (EEG, GSR, EMG, EOG {Eye Tracking}), the limitations of such existinge equipment include its cost (often in the thousands of dollars), its limitation to analog, electrode and Op Amp Sensors (as opposed to the appliance type digital sensors now available to hobbyists and health enthusiast like Neurosky, Zeo and SEEED SPO2 (Pulse Ox Sensor), and its lack of a wireless connection to the cloud or a Internet of Things Service.

I am wondering and opening up for discussion what sort of Open Hardware/Software System Based Laboratory Equipment we could develop for these needs possible with the help of Community Sourced Funding.

Please respond to my brainstorming in the spirit of a "Strawman" meant to encourage your participation rather than an "impossible" directive from "on high"

--Ira Laefsky

MRE

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Jun 19, 2012, 2:11:44 PM6/19/12

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I wouldnt say I am the group owner... but thats what google calls
it ;)
I hope to add a few owners without google choking on it.

I like the goal of a more flexible and open sourced version of the
biopac type devices.

Mike Dodaro

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Jun 19, 2012, 5:11:39 PM6/19/12

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I'm game to try about any kind of sensor, but I don't think I can build sensors, at least not physiological sensors.

> Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:11:44 -0700
> Subject: Re: A "Strawman" Systems Development Proposal Open Science Lab//Data Acquisition Equipment for Psychophysiology/Quantified Self Health/Fitness Data Recording
> From: epre...@gmail.com
> To: physi...@googlegroups.com

Ira Laefsky

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Jun 19, 2012, 5:36:50 PM6/19/12

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Clarification Mike:

Thanks Mike: I am functioning on not enough sleep at the moment, so I am not addressing the question of what features and devices the present team has the capability of building or specifying--but my "Ideal Aim" is to build an Electronic, Computational & Communication "Aggregator" to scoop up and log the values coming both from exxisting (or purchasable analog sensors (electrode and Op Amp type (GSR, EEG, EOG, and EMG) and Health/Physiology Appliances like the Neurosky, SEEED Pulse Ox, Zeo etc. I'd want to be able to funnel in data from a few to several analog and digital sensors, log these results locally on attached storage and forward them to the cloud or an Internet of Things Application. We might also want the ability to use a tablet or smart phone as a conttroller command processsor, and as an Oscilliscope-like display for several channels of data. Devices like the Biopac are not sensors in themselves but aggregators and data collectors for multiple sensors (which in their case the same company and others sell)....

MRE

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Jun 20, 2012, 8:23:01 AM6/20/12

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Some interesting and relevant Hack-A-Day links to get the juices
flowing:

Multi-channel analog input:
http://hackaday.com/2012/06/19/multi-channel-analog-input-module-is-a-good-jumping-off-point-for-many-projects/
Router hacking: http://hackaday.com/2012/06/18/putting-scores-of-arduinos-on-the-internet-with-one-router/
DIY EMG! http://hackaday.com/2012/06/17/diy-emg-uses-an-audio-recorder/
50 plus hacks in the medical category: http://hackaday.com/category/medical-hacks/

lae...@comcast.net

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Jun 21, 2012, 11:42:36 AM6/21/12

to physi...@googlegroups.com, lae...@comcast.net

Thanks Emery:

The first article by the Dentist/Ph.D. student is particularly interesting--perhaps we should try to recruit him for our team. This brings up an interesting side topic. The relative advantages of a USB-based DAQ like Labjack

http://labjack.com/ versus an independent Microcontroller and Communication Interface. We probably need several Analog and Digital Interfaces (on the same device?) to talk to GSR-like electrode and Op Amp Signals as well as Digital Devices talking various serial protocols like Neurosky, Zeo or the SEEED Studio SPO2 sensor. The idea of a suite of display and analysis tools accesible via python or another scripting interface is also interesting.

--Ira

From: "MRE" <epre...@gmail.com>
To: "Physiosense" <physi...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 8:23:01 AM

Subject: Re: A "Strawman" Systems Development Proposal Open Science Lab//Data Acquisition Equipment for Psychophysiology/Quantified Self Health/Fitness Data Recording

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