4 ms·

The electrodes themself seem to cost $45 for 30 on that site? Is the rest just some low impedance wire? I appreciate economies of scale, etc, but they advertise

The electrodes themself seem to cost $45 for 30 on that site? Is the rest just some low impedance wire? I appreciate economies of scale, etc, but they advertise these as “open” solutions, but is it some knowledge gatekeeping that stops this being truly DIY?

LeifCarrotson 2y ago
You are welcome DIY it yourself with a sewing machine, soldering iron, and some hours of manual skilled labor. But sewing skills are becoming less common, that labor and equipment has a cost, and the market has pretty well settled at these prices. If you started a company buying those electrodes for $25/16 (or much less in bulk) and selling these super-simple skullcaps at $50 each, undercutting the market by 10x, I'm sure demand would be high and people would flock to your door. Heck, I'll build you an automated wiring harness machine for on the order of $500,000 to churn out rainbow ribbon cables with molded snap electrodes on one side and a 16-pin IDC Dupont parallel connector on the other end if you've got the cash and can allocate $0.50 per unit towards that automation equipment over the first million projected sales. I've also done automated fabric cutting and sewing (in upholstery and automotive sectors, not clothing/medical). Sewing is much more complicated and expensive than wiring, and typically involves significant amounts of hands-on time. The absence of anyone doing that suggests that it's not just gatekeeping and price fixing that sets prices where they are. The modern clothing industry that churns out T-shirts for a few bucks and cheap blue jeans for $20 is working miracles, you should not use that as a bar with which to set expectations.
- supermatt 2y ago
  > You are welcome DIY it yourself with a sewing machine, soldering iron, and some hours of manual skilled labor. Thats exactly what I would expect to do, but it seems instead of buying the electrodes and handling the wiring as part of a DIY project, these "open" solutions are just selling their own 10x-more-expensive-than-the-parts kits, and the knowledge to make it yourself is treated as some lost-to-the-ages arcane magic EDIT: ok, thats not fair of me - i just found it on their website at: https://docs.openbci.com/ https://docs.openbci.com/

LeifCarrotson 2y ago

You are welcome DIY it yourself with a sewing machine, soldering iron, and some hours of manual skilled labor. But sewing skills are becoming less common, that labor and equipment has a cost, and the market has pretty well settled at these prices. If you started a company buying those electrodes for $25/16 (or much less in bulk) and selling these super-simple skullcaps at $50 each, undercutting the market by 10x, I'm sure demand would be high and people would flock to your door. Heck, I'll build you an automated wiring harness machine for on the order of $500,000 to churn out rainbow ribbon cables with molded snap electrodes on one side and a 16-pin IDC Dupont parallel connector on the other end if you've got the cash and can allocate $0.50 per unit towards that automation equipment over the first million projected sales. I've also done automated fabric cutting and sewing (in upholstery and automotive sectors, not clothing/medical). Sewing is much more complicated and expensive than wiring, and typically involves significant amounts of hands-on time. The absence of anyone doing that suggests that it's not just gatekeeping and price fixing that sets prices where they are. The modern clothing industry that churns out T-shirts for a few bucks and cheap blue jeans for $20 is working miracles, you should not use that as a bar with which to set expectations.

supermatt 2y ago
> You are welcome DIY it yourself with a sewing machine, soldering iron, and some hours of manual skilled labor. Thats exactly what I would expect to do, but it seems instead of buying the electrodes and handling the wiring as part of a DIY project, these "open" solutions are just selling their own 10x-more-expensive-than-the-parts kits, and the knowledge to make it yourself is treated as some lost-to-the-ages arcane magic EDIT: ok, thats not fair of me - i just found it on their website at: https://docs.openbci.com/ https://docs.openbci.com/