After a long wait, we are happy to announce that we have started production of the first batch of the HealthyPi Move. Since the launch of the project, we have made several major changes to the product hardware as described in our last few updates. This resulted is a longer than expected development cycle and more hours.

The bad news - As a result of all these changes, our delivery date is being pushed to the beginning of January, but we’re making effort to make it earlier, if possible. We take our responsibility to backers very seriously, and we are very grateful for your trust in us. While we are very disappointed that we could not deliver the product in time for the holiday season, we are confident that the changes we have made will result in a much better product.

There is a also another specific reason for this delay - one of our main sensor chips (the Analog Devices MAXM86146 Optical PPG sensor) seems to be currently in a shortage and, as a result, Analog Devices has pushed the delivery date (to us) to sometime in November. This is a new chip and was very much available in stock when we started the project, so this change came as a surprise. Crowd Supply and Mouser are now helping to expedite the delivery and we are working with them to get the chips as soon as possible.

The main board is fixed for production at Version 10 and the sensor board is at version 5 (yes, really that many already!).

Production progress

While we wait for the sensor, the main PCB and the components independent of the MAXM86146 sensor are being assembled in full swing. We have received the new AMOLED displays, Li-Ion batteries and all the other electronic components.

The internal supporting structure design which holds the sensor board and the main board together, along with the battery, has also been finalized. We have decided to 3D print all the internal components in ABS in-house to ensure that we can make any changes quickly if anything goes wrong. The outside enclosure is being made using a vacuum casting process which gives a finish that 3D printing cannot. Here are some pictures of the finalized 3D printed design of the entire internal assembly. This is designed to slide in and out of the main enclosure easily.

As shown in the picture above, in accordance with our policy to keep the device as easy to open as possible, we came up with an idea to use pogo pins to connect the ECG electrode connection to the top stainless steel bezel. This really makes the entire assembly just one single unit without any wires running up to the top.

We will keep you updated on the progress of the production and the delivery dates as we get more information. Thank you for your patience and support.