Part layout is done, now all that’s left is routing the copper. It’ll take awhile but it’s mostly planned out already.
13 Likes
I’ll be done soon. Next big issue is getting a few hundred dollars together to make the prototypes and I still need somebody to help make the secure recovery boot functionality on the NOR flash. I’m collaborating with some people on the BHD Discord.
9 Likes
If funding is still an issue - let me know!
1 Like
Okay so I did the math and it will cost about $275 per unit in PCBs and components for the first very small batch of bodybytes. Significant cost reduction at larger quantities but we’re not there yet. I was thinking about making 5-10 units before grindfest. Amal wants two for encapsulation testing and will pay for those. The rest will be for community testing not for implantation. If you want to contribute feel free to donate at the link below. The BHD opencollective is a not for profit organization maintained by the Biohackers Digital community and these project funds will only be used for the bodybytes. The project is open source CC BY-SA 4.0. I would love to say that donations now will result in a discount to a purchase of a bodybytes down the line, but I realistically can’t make any promises because it’s not all in my control.
6 Likes
I tried to contribute but it looks like it was instantly funded
1 Like
There were numerous contributions in a short time
Including the main contributor
Lory Cord
Unusual name, 
It could almost be Cory Lord 
6 Likes
Can you not donate? It’s so very much not funded. I’m going to need at least $1000 but preferably more in the $2000-3000 range to actually get enough for people to develop with
Yeah I saw that and got a laff
4 Likes
I must have been blind when checking it last night in my phone. Find it easily on my computer
5 Likes
Back from my Europe trip. Lots of bloodshed and good times. I’m almost done, just need to do a bit more routing for the 3.3V line tomorrow and then Silentpotato and I are gonna do some final design review.
9 Likes
Also, if anybody else has an hour or two and wants to sit down for a chat and have a design review to see if I missed anything feel free to reach out. Even if you just want to familiarize yourself with the design we can still work that out. It’s open source and may be useful for derivative works or just learning.
9 Likes
Over the 1k mark now 
I can’t help with the design review, but definitely interested in hearing more about the project, capabilities, etc if you need to talk it through to a fresh person.
2 Likes
Thank you all so much for your generosity moving this forward. I submitted an expense to the open collective which was approved so I should receive the funds soon. I will be able to produce at least 3x units, possibly up to 7x if I can work out some favorable arrangements with Alibaba suppliers over domestic. I will keep one unit to practice population which will probably not be useful for development after I’m done. One unit will likely go to PJabbs for firmware development. There will be at least one additional unit purchased by the community (likely more), so if anyone has made good progress with a vocore and has a compelling case to receive an actual bodybytes for development then I will send it to them. Amal has paid for an additional two units for DT to test with, and has some clever ideas for overcoming coupling inconsistencies during data transfer.
You can still donate to the open collective and it will go towards the project (since I have extra PCBs and can order more components easily). Down the line, probably after grindfest, we will arrange a pre-order/group buy for a larger quantity (possibly 100?). It might be a community effort, or depending on proposals may go through industry players like DT, Abyss Walkers, or Symbiont Labs.
A big thing holding these projects back for so long was the availability of consistent and reliable encapsulation. Expect more dramatic projects like this in the coming months. If the world is going to be like that, I’ve decided to do the crazy shit that I and others want and stop letting survival prevent us from thriving.
10 Likes
I mean, I think someone chipping in thousands of hours of hardware development time is fairly generous 
But glad we can help a tiny bit making cool things happen.
3 Likes
Finished the design 
Everything is uploaded in the public Gdrive. The project notes still need a bit of fleshing out, but they’re pretty good and we’ll have time to do more of that while we’re waiting for parts. After everything is tested and finalized I’ll move it to GitHub. I finished my thorough design review and I’m pretty satisfied, but I’m going to see if SilentPotato has the bandwidth to take a look as well.
@mayhem made this for the project which I think is cool
9 Likes
To all “backers” who participated in first round support for this project, DT is offering free resin encapsulation. the only cost would be shipping.
11 Likes
Love this!
Just curious - is the idea to send over the chip + sdcard and receive it back? Assuming the sdcard has a stock openwrt installed.
There’s no SD card the NAND flash is on a chip soldered on the board
1 Like
Ah! I forgot from the docs and was thinking of the pegleg
Haha good i was so confused
1 Like
Been going back and forth with PCBWay for a few days over them wanting to change the thickness to 0.22mm, with 24hr timezone delays on responses. Finally got it sorted and they approved the order. Went to pay for it and it more than tripled in price.
I’m investigating now. Could be an error on their end, could be a minor change I could make that would significantly drop the price, or I may just need to order fewer PCBs. This isn’t tenable as is though, especially considering I’ll have tariffs to pay when it gets here.
3 Likes