Hey guys, this was just pointed out to me, I can't believe I missed this post! First off, all images were acquired using the 82x62 array, inside the prototype shown in the video. I agree its not the best looking case, but yes this was mainly due to the costs involved. Our industrial designer does 3D printing and that will be part of the prototyping process, but I decided to hold off until after the Kickstarter was successful (it was painful last time when we ended). Unfortunately, we won't have a better looking case until mid-May.
I realize I need to share more details on the injection molding. We spent last summer looking for injection molders and found a local shop that does good work (I've toured their shop, they make many injection molded products, including housings for another company I know in the area for the past six years) and has good equipment (including multiple CNC and EDM machines - they do their own tooling). For the Hema-Imager last fall, the plan was to produce 1000 cases and 4000 attachment patches, the quote for tooling plus the product was just under $10,000. For the HemaVision, the cost is double that (double-shot mold). We had funds prepared to invest in the tooling if we only got to 40 or 50,000 on Kickstarter, but we are now in good shape. It is true we haven't gone through the process yet, but they say they are able to complete the tooling in 12 weeks.
The prototype hardware is a Raspberry Pi 2 with camera module and the 82x62. Our plan is to build our own board around a different SoC, but in principle you could build this now with a Raspberry Pi 2 (or Banana Pi or ODroid) off the shelf (with some rework). Mehrdad has done two boards with the TI Sitara, the development we want to do is of course harder, but we can do it. Also, Heimann Sensor is helping us with a really good price, they wanted to see if this market really has legs for them, and because of this, they are basically investing in us as well, via the price. At DSS this year (I couldn't go, last week of work for me and it just wasn't possible), Boston Electronics and Heimann were really happy to report that they had a lot of people asking about us, even one person asking if they made something "like what Hema Imaging has"!
I think the computer vision applications will be very important in the future, and that is why I'm building it this way. If you think a regular wifi thermal camera would be desirable, please let me know, that kind of feedback is very useful to me. But also, thank you for your review, I know that if people don't leave these comments they can still be thinking them and I would never know. Please let me know what you think, I'd be happy to answer any other questions.
Erik
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