Hello NeuroStimDuino backers and followers!! I am sure you all must be eager to get your hands on the NeuroStimDuino and begin your neuroscience experiments. We have been anxious to get it to you as well. Over the past few weeks we have made significant progress towards manufacturing the boards and dealt with some setbacks too. Here is a brief update on all the exciting things that have been happening with NeuroStimDuino.

Firstly, the design files for NeuroStimDuino were revised with minor changes and the latest eagle files (version 1.1) are available in our github repository.

Next, we reached out to the fab house in India to place the order for making 50 boards. That’s when they informed us about the ongoing global component shortages and overall increased pricing of all components. If you already didn’t know about the IC shortages, Piotr, a fellow CS-developer, gives a nice breakdown of the reasons behind it in this update. To make things worse, the supply of many of the TI chips, including the differential amplifier INA149 that NeuroStimDuino critically needs, has been exhausted. Luckily, we were able to find a pin-compatible replacement from Analog Devices (AD629) with identical specifications.

Also, to deal with the component price hikes and still remain within our original budget, we decided to source many of the components directly from Mouser with Crowd Supply’s help. Many thanks to our project manager Chris for facilitating this.

Finally, today we transferred the first installment to the manufacturer, so that they can begin making the boards soon. While most of India is under lockdown because of the second wave of Covid-19, fortunately our manufacturer is exempted and can focus on production. I will provide more updates as the first batch of boards gets manufactured. Stay safe.