Ask HN: Seeeking help to reverse engineer a PCB | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Seeeking help to reverse engineer a PCB

20 pointsDlg00110 comments

We are a small manufacturing company currently developing our own self balancing wheelchair. We have been purchasing PCB gyro board for Chinese company to test the wheelchair. I requested they changed a number of parameters on the firmware to add additional safety measures to the project. They appear to be reluctant to do this work ... with no logical reason why, I presume they themselves do have access to its development.

I am looking for a company capable of reverse engineer the PCB we have been testing and gain access to the firmware and making some software revisions. Is this possible, are you interested in taking on this work. I welcome you thoughts.

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They can't do the work because they copied the firmware from some other company's product and don't actually know how it works.

That other company probably also copied it from somewhere else, etc.

Yeah. They, too, likely hired someone to reverse engineer it to make their own modifications. Let's add another to the chain. Surely the firmware could only become more "safe" with Lego block hacks. That's the point, right, OP?

All things considered, it sounds like the "gyro board" module is probably something that is OTS and already certified for use in a healthcare product. Wonder what the legality is of modifying such a thing in such a way?

As others have suggested, make your own or use a more ubiquitous module from the open source community. Integration wise, Claude can probably get you 80% of the way there.

> I presume they themselves do have access to its development.

Bad presumption.

Just develop a new board with your own bespoke design and firmware, possibly inspired by theirs. If you can't do this, you shouldn't be in this business.

Hi,

    My name is Matthew Burns.  I am an MIT Grad who runs an electronics product design firm.  I work with startups and product design firms, and I am currently subcontracting from and am the electrical for 3 PD firms across the country.  I have a lot of design experience in the PD world and have been making boards since I was a kid.  I would love to design, and / or reverse engineer your wheelchair electronics.  Whether it be more accessible parts, clearer supply chain, acquiring firmware / hardware that is your IP and not opaque to change, adding capability, or doing cost reduction.

    I have completed a number of motor and controls projects including robot grippers, electronic transportation carts, and more.  You can view some of my professional work online at:

www.burnselectronics.com

    You can also view my personal work at:

www.bunch-of-electricals.com

    I'd love to help.  Let me know if there is a good time to chat.

Thanks, Matt

Which PCB gyro board?

When I think of "PCB gyro boards" it is typically a commodity chip like the MPU-9250 packaged on a board with the necessary filtering caps, etc, There is not any firmware to modify really, all of the processing is done by a separate MCU that handles the filtering and processing.

Don't do this. You will regret following this path.

Spin your own design, it will be less effort, less cost, and you'll own the design. It is not that complicated that you have to outsource all reason.

To jump on the bandwagon, I do that sort of work sometimes, but more details on the product to modify would be needed. Also, it may be more cost effective to design a replacement product (also noted by others), which I can also do. I would have reached out directly, but you didn't provide any contact information in your profile. You can find contact information for me in my profile. I wish you luck either way.

Reverse engineering is my bread and butter. I’d be willing to look into this for you.

Feel free to reach out: uniform_solar.9i@icloud.com

I would suggest posting a bit more information if you want help.

Is this an off the shelf or a custom board?

What are the components on the PCB? (The MCU, gyro)

Did they write some custom firmware for you?

We do this all day, would be very happy to help.

www.iancollmceachern.com

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