The answer is simple. We’ve been talking up the open source nature of this project, so it’s time to get the community involved! Y’all are brilliant and awesome, and we need your help on the PSIgasm. Unfortunately, the project is still at a point where there is a rather high barrier for entry, which is why we haven’t done this earlier. It’s not as easy as we would like for anyone interested to jump right in. We need help getting it to that point.

I am listing some tasks that we need help with below. Most of them require a lot of skills, knowledge, and sometimes money. If you have the ability to help out with any of these tasks, please please please contact us and take one of them on. The people who volunteer their time at the outset will get a lot of control over how this project grows. If not, hang tight for now. When the project moves forward, we will definitely need your help.

Analog Electronics

What we have:

We have gerber files and parts lists for three boards which connect to one another, to the body of the device, and to an Arduino Fio. On these boards are preamps, lock-in amps, filtering, ADCs, and and accelerometer. We also have annotated schematics which make the functional flow of the circuitry fairly clear, but the schematics are only images and are not linked to the board layout. There are a few known bugs in the PCB design, and possibly some more unknown ones.

What we need:

We need someone to write up a nice schematic for these designs in an open source friendly layout software, linked to an actual board layout and the specific parts in the BOM. Known bugs should be fixed, and contributions to the design generally are always appreciated. We would like to set up and share SPICE simulations of the circuitry, so that people can help debug the design without actually buying the PCBs and chips. All of this will be shared with the community through the infrastructure that we’re asking for help with below.

Silicone Device Body

What we have:

3D design files (any format you like, I made them in Solidworks) of the mold for the body of the device, the mounting plate, all of the PCBs, the box, and the sensors. You can output the mold design files directly to a 3D printer, which will let you cast your own silicone devices. Some of that parts, including the metal electrodes and the mounting plate, currently need to be machined from aluminum.

What we need:

We want someone to test the process of 3D printing molds on an open source 3D printer such as the RepRap or equivalent. It would be awesome if someone wanted to make several devices and really work out the kinks in the process of creating the device body. Ideally you would then write up a how-to doc for anyone else interested in making one.

Another task is to shop around and find the easiest way for people who may not have machine shop access / expertise to get a hold of the custom metal parts required. Research should be done about cheap ordering services, or perhaps a resource guide for local machining spaces like TechShop in the Bay Area. Design improvements are of course always welcome.

Crowdsourcing Infrastructure

What we have:

Good intentions, some files we want to share, and some tasks we want help with.

What we need:

We need a central repository for all of the files associated with this project. People should be able to access all of the files and submit changes and improvements. It would be awesome to have functionality to split up development into small modular tasks for individuals to take on. Active members of the open source community, especially the open source hardware community, will know what we need here better than I do. Whatever solution we use should handle hardware designs in arbitrary file formats, as well as code (ASCII text) and documentation. We need ideas about the best way to do this, and when there is some consensus about the best platform we also need someone to actually sit down and set it all up for us.

Software

What we have:

We have Arduino firmware written in the Arduino language (mostly C) which reads data from the ADCs as quickly as possible, buffers it, averages it, and transmits it to a PC on command. It works but is a bit buggy and probably not as efficient as it could be. We also have a PC program to get data from the device and display it on running graphs. This is currently written in C#. It is also really buggy and messy. There is also a Labview version, but that’s far too proprietary to be appropriate for the project’s future. Don’t judge me too hard – it was all hacked together in a hurry.

What we need:

The most important thing would stable software to accomplish the tasks above as efficiently as possible. On the firmware end, you will need to look in detail at the datasheets both for the Arduino and for the ADC to choose the optimal sample frequency and to multiplex as efficiently as possible. On the PC software, there should be a stable, stand alone program that works across platforms and OSes to talk to the device, record data, and graph results. Once the basic functionality is there, it would be great to have automatic datasharing functionality.

It may end up being easiest for the software to be entirely rewritten from scratch by a dedicated guru. This might be a difficult / thankless task until the hardware moves forward. On the other hand, you can help with this part without leaving your desk or buying anything.

Hackmeet is a two day unconference and skillshare for activists, artists, community members, and geeks. Our presentation is called “Open Science: Breaking The Ivory Tower” and it will be happening at 4PM.

There are lots of amazing presentations and opportunities to learn something new. Whether it’s hacktivism, private browsing, or social networking for radicals there’s something for everyone who has access to an internet connection and a drive to put something new in the world that wasn’t there before.

There were a lot of fantastic talks and we enjoyed watching everyone. We learned a lot as well. During the workshop session, our language of “citizen science” was challenged on the merits that it favors citizenship and nationalism. “Citizen Science” is the phrase that will connect people in non-academic settings to the best information and resources for conducting science but we agree that it does not represent the aims of the project. A dialog is ongoing about better terms like, “community science.” It was fantastic to have the opportunity to get some good feedback.

We were also questioned about our research guidelines. At this point in time we are still in the construction phase of the PSIgasm and have not yet begun research. It has been our intention from day one to be transparent about our methodology in such a way that others can duplicate it. Although we are working outside of an academic setting, there are some frames of research methodology that are vital to follow for this project. We are also creating a code of ethics for our research to protect those who are gracious enough to serve as subjects and donate their orgasms to the project and to maintain a level of professionalism and safe space as well as accessibility.

Here are some photos from the event:

The device will include two photoplethysmographs, four skin contact sensors capable of monitoring temperature and skin resistance, a heat flow sensor, a pressure monitor, and an accelerometer. Data from all of the devices will be wirelessly transmitted to a PC and can be graphed simultaneously in real time.

I made 3D models of the entire device to ensure that it would all fit together perfectly. The mold from which I will cast the silicone device will be 3D printed. This will give allow for superior alignment, more accurate measurements, and a sleek polished aesthetic.

The electronics on this device are what really make it cool. I’m using a phase sensitive lock-in measurement technique to make extremely fast, low noise measurements. Three independent channels of lock-in detection work in parallel, each with its own tunable 10-bit ADC. These badass custom electronics of my own design live on six 2″x3″ PCBs, which mount onto an aluminum mounting plate that I cut last week in the machine shop.

I hope to have the device complete by the end of September, baring unforeseen difficulties (famous last words).

The second version can simultaneously measure body temperature, optical internal skin reflectivity, electrodermal response, and pressure due to muscle tension. This data can be used to monitor local blood volume, moisture levels, and the frequency and amplitude of orgasmic contractions.

The body is cast in platinum cure RTV silicone, from a homemade plaster of paris mold. The sensors and electrodes are embedded in the surface of the silicone, and a hollow core allows for pressure measurement.

Version 2.0 uses an arduino fio microprocessor board with an Xbee wireless shield to transmit data to a nearby computer wirelessly in real time. GUI software allows for simulatenous real time display of graphs of each sensor or physiological variable.

We got to show the 2.0 off for the first time (in a somewhat buggy state) in a workshop Maggie taught at the SF Citadel on the Science of Orgasms in May. We have since had the pleasure of presenting the PSIgasm devices in a segment for Kink Academy which will be posted soon, including footage of the devices in use (with expert commentary of course).

Read on to see the full PSIgasm Project presentation submission, with details on the project and on the interactive presentation we have planned. We have a few months before September and the mad science laboratory is going to be burning the midnight oil to make this happen. We hope to see you all there.

Download the .pdf here.

Here are some of the photos and check back soon for an excerpt of what we talked about on the air.

The tension in the pelvic floor muscles during masturbation (top) and orgasm (bottom, top highlighted). Measurement device was used anally by a 25 year old cis-male. Contact info@psigasm.net to reproduce image.

]]> https://psigasm.net/?feed=rss2&p=67 0 https://psigasm.net/?p=26 https://psigasm.net/?p=26#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:24:33 +0000 ned https://psigasm.net/?p=26 Here’s a quick drawing of what’s inside to prototype PSIgasm device. It’s just about as simple and easy as it looks. The only things left out of the drawing are an instrumentation amplifier and a female condom to make a better pressure seal.

A scale drawing of the prototype PSIgasm device