Once the v0.91 prototypes were validated, we pulled the trigger on our biggest pilot run yet: 500 pcs through an automated assembly line, a first for our lead engineer (who is used to toaster ovens and tedious hand assembly work). Also, matte green solder mask! 5/16/2016 - 6/3/2016

We learned a lot from NeuroBytes v0.8. Version 0.9 kept the same general shape but improved a number of items. It also suffered from numerous design failures, warranting the creation of NeuroBytes v0.91 within days of its arrival from the fabricator.

2/5/2016 - 5/15/2016

NeuroBytes v0.8: the biggest thing since v0.4. These boards were the second round to be manufactured in pilot-scale quantities, and marked the first time we actually bought a stencil to help with solder paste application. They carried us through the UW-M and PHHS trials crucial to our SBIR Phase I grant, and taught us a ton about how students interact with the product.

1/15/2016 - 2/4/2016

NeuroBytes v0.7 was a bit of a throwback to v0.4. We took a few of the lessons learned in v0.5 and v0.6--directionality, pogo programming, SMD connectors, etc--but focused on BOM cost reduction by reducing the number of indicators and dramatically shrinking the PCB.

12/2/2015 - 1/14/2016

NeuroBytes v0.6 built on many of the lessons learned with v0.5, incorporating many of its novel features into a fully prototyped custom PCB. These units were also substantially more complicated than previous generations, completely maxing out the ATtiny88's relatively large I/O capability.

9/16/2015 - 12/1/2015

NeuroBytes v0.5 is a prototype in the extreme sense of the word. We wanted to test a number of new ideas all at once and lacked the patience for a custom PCB, instead reverting to a hand-carved copper board and many blue jumper wires.

4/2/2014 - 9/15/2015

NeuroBytes v0.4 requires a bit of extra consideration; in addition to scaling manufacturing by more than an order of magnitude, this generation was current for more than a year and was the basis for Zach and Joe's collaboration.

3/16/2014 - 4/1/2014

The next phase of Neuron development was a bit faster. In terms of hardware, it was more of a 'tock' compared to the 'tick' of Neuron v0.2. Having said that, we still made a few physical changes to our setup, in ascending order of importance:

2/2/2014 - 3/15/2014

Our main concern with v0.2 was building enough devices to sustain a loop. Without getting into too much detail--that's for another post that dives into potential levels and such--it's important to know that Neurons can only send signals so fast before recovering for a set period of time.

2012 - 2/1/2014

Zach asked me to write a little about the prehistory of the Neuron project, so here goes.

This Neuron project goes back a few years, to architecture grad school and a brief obsession with the idea of computer-generated architecture.
[{"document_url": "http://www.neurotinker.com/neurobytes-prototype-versions", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/552fcb80e4b039a126396537/56b91b5a27d4bdc792939608/57d1d80146c3c459f9eb3016/1473371234881/v091_run_finishedpanels1.JPG", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/552fcb80e4b039a126396537/56b91b5a27d4bdc792939608/57d1d80146c3c459f9eb3016/1473371234881/v091_run_finishedpanels1.JPG", "formatted_filename": "v run finishedpanels", "alt_text": "v0.91"}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.neurotinker.com/neurobytes-prototype-versions", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/552fcb80e4b039a126396537/56b91b5a27d4bdc792939608/57d1d350d1758ee1888329b9/1473369983834/comparo-back-square.JPG", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/552fcb80e4b039a126396537/56b91b5a27d4bdc792939608/57d1d350d1758ee1888329b9/1473369983834/comparo-back-square.JPG", "formatted_filename": "comparo back square", "alt_text": "v0.9"}, null]