Upside Down Labs
Bio Sensing
OSH Park

BioAmp EXG Pill

Professional-grade analog front-end amplification for ECG, EMG, EOG, and EEG biosensing on one tiny board

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BioAmp EXG Pill is a small, powerful analog-front-end (AFE) biopotential signal-acquisition board that can be paired with any microcontroller unit (MCU) or single-board computer (SBC) with an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) such as Arduino UNO & Nano, Espressif ESP32, Adafruit QtPy, STM32 Blue Pill, BeagleBone Black, and Raspberry Pi Pico, to name just a few. It also works with any dedicated ADC, like the Texas Instruments ADS1115 and ADS131M0x, among others.

BioAmp EXG Pill is capable of recording publication-quality biopotential signals like ECG, EMG, EOG, and EEG, without the inclusion of any dedicated hardware or software filters. Its small size allows easy integration into mobile and space-constrained projects, and its powerful noise rejection makes it usable even when the device is close to the AC mains supply. Any 1.5 mm diameter wire can be used as a strain-relieving electrode cable, making it very cost-effective in comparison to the other available.

The BioAmp EXG Pill can be used in a variety of ways, the YouTube video below shows a potential way of using v0.7 of BioAmp EXG Pill.

A lot has improved in terms of interference rejection and flexibility from v0.7 to v1.0 of the BioAmp EXG Pill. The YouTube video below shows the ECG, EMG, EOG, and EEG recording using v1.0b of device.

Electromyography (EMG)

Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. EMG is also used as a diagnostic procedure to assess the health of muscles and the nerve cells that control them (motor neurons). EMG results can reveal nerve dysfunction, muscle dysfunction, or problems with nerve-to-muscle signal transmission. The images below show an EMG wave recorded with BioAmp EXG Pill and the electrode placement for the recorded EMG respectively.

Checkout the Electromyography (EMG) Walkthrough project update for information about EMG filtering, envelop detection, servo control, and LED-bar control, as well as an exciting project demo that relies on EMG data recorded with BioAmp EXG Pill.

Electrocardiography (ECG)

Electrocardiography (ECG) is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG). It is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the heart using electrodes placed on the skin. These electrodes detect the small electrical changes that are a consequence of cardiac muscle depolarization followed by repolarization during each cardiac cycle (heartbeat). The images below show electrode placement for lead 1 ECG recording, an ECG wave recorded with BioAmp EXG Pill and electrode placement for hand ECG/EKG recording respectively.

Checkout the Supportive Technology project update for information about ECG filtering and heart-beat detection, and more on ECG recording, with BioAmp EXG Pill.

Electrooculography (EOG)

Electrooculography (EOG) is a technique for measuring the corneo-retinal standing potential that exists between the front and the back of the human eye. The resulting signal is called EOG. Common electrode placement for vertical & horizontal EOG recording is shown in the image below.

To measure eye movement, pairs of electrodes are typically placed either above and below the eye or to the left and right of the eye. If the eye moves from the center position toward one of the two electrodes, this electrode "sees" the positive side of the retina, and the opposite electrode "sees" the negative side of the retina. Consequently, a potential difference occurs between the electrodes. Assuming the resting potential is constant, the recorded potential is a measure of the eye’s position. The images below show electrode placement for vertical EOG recording, an EOG signal recorded with BioAmp EXG Pill and electrode placement for vertical EOG respectively.

Checkout the Electrooculography (EOG) Walkthrough project update for information about EOG filtering and eye-blink detection, and more on EOG recording, using BioAmp EXG Pill.

EEG

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an electrophysiological monitoring method to record electrical activity on the scalp. During the procedure, electrodes consisting of small metal discs with thin wires are pasted onto your scalp. The electrodes detect tiny electrical charges that result from the activity of your brain cells which are then amplified to appear on the computer screen. It is typically non-invasive, with the electrodes placed along the scalp. The images below show an EEG wave recorded with BioAmp EXG Pill and the electrode placement for the frontal cortex EEG recording respectively.

Checkout the Electroencephalography (EEG) Walkthrough project update for information about EEG filtering, and more on EEG recording, with BioAmp EXG Pill.

Your One-Stop Shop for Biopotential Amplification

BioAmp EXG Pill is perfect for researchers, makers, and hobbyists looking for novel ways to sample biopotential data. It can be used for a wide variety of interesting biosensing projects, including:

…And many more examples.

Features & Specifications

Designed to Support a Variety of Applications

BioAmp EXP Pill’s elegant design allows it to be used in three ways:

Board-Layout Diagrams

Front

Back

Software

To help with signal processing and cleaning, you can use the Arduino sample sketches listed below:

No.ProgramDescription
1FixedSamplingSample from ADC at a fixed rate for easy signal processing
2EMGFilterA 74.5 - 149.5 Hz band-pass filter sketch for clean Electromyography
3ECGFilterA 0.5 - 44.5 Hz band-pass filter sketch for clean Electrocardiography
4EOGFilterA 0.5 - 19.5 Hz band-pass filter sketch for clean Electrooculography
5EEGFilterA 0.5 - 29.5 Hz band-pass filter sketch for clean Electroencephalography
6EMGEnvelopeEMG signal envelope detection for robotics and biomedical applications
7LEDBarGraphLED bar graph showing EMG amplitude
8ServoControlServo motor control with EMG
9HeartBeatDetectionStandard deviation based heart-beat detection algorithm
10EyeBlinkDetectionEOG-based eye blink detection
11DrowsinessDetectionDrowsiness detection using eye-blink detection.
12ClawControllerServo claw controller
13EOGPhotoCaptureBLEEOG based photo clicking machine using ESP32 BLE

You an EXG Explorer or a Neuroscience Ninja?

Comparisons

BioAmp EXG PillHeart and Brain Spiker BoxMyoware Muscle SensorEEG Analog ASMMuscle Spiker Shield ProDIY Muscle Spiker Shield
Manufacturer Upside Down Labs Backyard Brains Advancer Technologies Olimex Backyard Brains Backyard Brains
Compatible Hardware 5 V MCU w/ ADC Onboard MCU 3.3 or 5 V MCU w/ ADC 5 V MCU w/ ADC Arduino UNO Arduino UNO
Voltage Rating 5 - 40 V 9 V Battery or 5 V USB 2.9 - 5.7 V 5 V 5 V 5 V
Biopotential(s)ECG, EMG, EOG, and EEG ECG, EEG EMG EEG EMG EMG
No. of Channels1 1 1 2 6 1
Electrodes2 or 3 3 3 3 3 3
Open SourceHardware + software Software only Hardware + software Hardware only Software only Software only
WearableYes No Yes No No No
Designed for Use With a Carrier BoardYes No Yes No No No
Cost per Channel$35 $150 $38 $45 $67 $65

Schematic

Click to enlarge

Support & Documentation

We are enthusiastic about open hardware and open source software! You can find our extensive, open-source, CERN- and MIT-licensed hardware and software documentation in our GitHub Repository. And, if you have questions, you can reach us using the Ask a technical question form below.

In the Press

Electromaker

"BioAmp EXG Pill is a tiny little board for biosensing that works basically with your body straight off the bat and it is quite incredible and interesting."

CNX Software

"BioAmp EXG Pill board can record biopotential signals like ECG (electrocardiography), EMG (electromyography), EOG (electrooculography), and EEG (Electroencephalography), or in more simple terms, biosignals from the heart, muscles, eyes, or brain..."

CIRCUITSTATE

"Think of turning on a light with your mind, or opening a door or controlling a robotic arm or drone. All that, and many more is possible by non-invasively tapping into our body’s electrical signals."

Hackster News

"Open-hardware BioAmp EMG Pill gets a redesign, broader sensor support, and a crowdfunding campaign for mass production."

Hackaday

Hackaday

"Congratulations to the ten projects that have been selected to... continue to the finals of the 2021 Hackaday Prize! Each of these are a different take on the Reimagine Supportive Tech Challenge..."


Ask a Question

Produced by Upside Down Labs in New Delhi, India.

Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.

EXG Explorer Pack

Two BioAmp EXG Pill boards, 15 gel electrodes, four 3-pin angled pin headers, four 3-pin straight pin headers, six alligator clips, and two 1.5 mm electrode cables

$69 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

Neuroscience Ninja Pack

Eight BioAmp EXG Pill boards, 100 gel electrodes, 16 3-pin angled pin headers, 16 3-pin straight pin headers, 24 alligator clips, and eight 1.5 mm electrode cables

$249 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

100 Gel Electrodes

100 gel electrodes

$35 $8 US Shipping / $18 Worldwide

About the Team

Upside Down Labs

New Delhi, India  ·   upsidedownlabs.tech

We work on awesome open-source projects to help you amplify your efforts and rectify your path to success!

Bhawna Sehgal
 bhawnasehgal
Dikshant Dahiya
 dikshant007
Deepak Khatri
 lorforlinux

See Also

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