From: e_e_ling_at_h...
Date: 2001-04-09 01:04:25
A very important point, and I guess it's about time we addressed it.
I found out about this project from reading through the brainmaster
mailing list archives and seeing several of Yaniv's posts. Yaniv was
asking why the price of a pre-built brainmaster was so high
($1000) when the designs were free. From what I understand, the
original aims of this project were for a cheap, bre-built eeg to be
available to the public.
I think this should not be much of a problem. I am no expert in this
field, but I believe that a product has to be officially certified if
we are making some kind of claim, e.g. "this is a medical device", etc
etc. The Brainmaster is registered for clinical use and that is why
the cost is so high. If you want a certified, recognised piece of
hardware, you buy a brainmaster. If all you want is to measure your
brainwaves, you buy our EEG.
Also, *we* would not be selling the product. Our concern is not to
make money for ourselves, or to set ourselves up as some kind of
organisation, but to make EEG equipment available to whoever wants one
(including us). There are 40 of us in this group, all with an
interest in EEG. If we decide to have 40 machines made by a factory
for our personal use, there should be no legal problem. Nobody is
"selling" the EEG. If this is true (and we should check) then it
should be the same with 100, 500, 1000 people.
By the way, what do you mean by a do-it-yourself kit? Is it something
that only an electronics expert can put together, or something that
anyone can do given a little time and effort? If an idiot like me
could do it then I guess we don't need to get them pre-made!
Regards
Eric
--- In buildcheapeeg_at_yahoogroups.com, Moritz v. Buttlar <info_at_baltic-microsolutions.de> wrote:
>
> Hi !
>
> Maybe we should start a general discussion about this to
> get some new ideas and to see what everybody thinks.
> I thought the cheapeeg was meant as a do-it-yourself kit in order to
avoid
> all kind of hassels associated with manufacturing and selling of
medical
> equipment.
>
> If you sell a device you are the manufacturer and therefore
responsible. If you
> sell the parts separately and the buyer assembles it, heīs the
manufacturer and
> therefore responsible for the device.
>
> I didnīt know the brainmaster design is freely available. In my
opinion itīs no
> big deal to get an eeg manufactured from our plans. There are a lot
of companys
> around specialised in this: you send them the plan, wait a month and
get a
> couple of hundreds (or thousands) of devices. Maybe financing it
would be a
> problem. But in order to sell the devices legally it must be (at
least in
> germany) tested by a special organization to comply to safety norms.
> Thatīs the expensive part ! You have to give it to somebody who
certifies it.
> I think it costs maybe 10000$ or more. It also has to comply to
electromagnetic
> norms (different test).
> After it has been certified the hardware design mustnīt be changed
(or you have
> to certify it again).
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