How much will cost to build a microcontroller by experts?

If you mean a microcontroller based system, the rate I am accoustomed to is $200.00 per hour.

$200/hour? I'm in the wrong business!

-- Gordon Author: Constructing Robot Bases (Forthcoming) Robot Builder's Sourcebook, Robot Builder's Bonanza

I'm puzzled. What are your requirements?

You can probably use an exisiting microcontroller board with some interfacing and a lot of programming.

Once you get that working, you can optimize the hardware design if you need to.

Just a suggestion.

And I live in a college town, so I only ask $50 per hour. (Too much competition from college students who can do some programming.)

-- D. Jay Newman

Well, I can always find cheaper, but I doubt I could find better .

Mike

I'd been looking around for a good price but find that they seemed not to have time to answer emails. Maybe too busy on a project? Since you said $200/hr, I assume the site below charge the same or higher?

People can modify an existing microcontroller, package and sell them? During the desingning process, who's in charge of making sure that the microcontroller won't cross another entity's patents right?

The requirements are as long as it's within the practical completion time and cost of business. I'm still waiting for an opportunity, but I like to be familiar with desingers ahead of schedule. Ric

are you talking about custom specifications of the actual microcontroller, or a design that uses a specific microcontroller, or requires a certain functionality.

desiging an actuall microcontroller would be tremendously expensive.

And how do you price-shop?

I would *strongly* suggest finding somebody competent rather than somebody who's inexpensive. You'll save more in the long run.

Also, some people use a different email for usenet than they do for normal business. For example, I use my adelphia address which immediately fills up with spam as soon as I make a posting. I haven't read mail at this adress in afew years.

-- D. Jay Newman

That depends on the contract.

For example, I claim that I have not knowingly violated any patent rights, but that's all I can claim without being paid *much* more. I'm not sure what I'd charge for a complete patent search on my software vs the patent office, but I'd guess it would be in excess of $10,000 for a fairly small program, and going up quickly with the size of the program.

And I wasn't talking about modifying an existing microcontroller. That's a chip. Why go to all that trouble. If you really want to create a brand-new microcontroller, use an FPGA, but I wouldn't even think of that at this stage in the process. Figure out exactly what you want to happen, not *how* it happens. If you want to control a Segway, then figure out what you want to control (I want it to be able to be used as a robot body, doing everything a human rider can do with it), not (I want to use a PIC to do things).

Why not use or make a board with an *existing* microcontroller, such as a PIC or a PSoP or any of the other fine microcontrollers out there? These things are desgined to be used in commercial packages.

For example, I use the JStamp in some of my designs. This is about the size of the BASIC Stamp and costs only a bit more per unit, but is directly programmed in Java, and has 0.5 Meg of Flash and RAM. Since I like robotics, I *like* the additional memory and the convinience of programming in a high-level language. If I buy one, I'm allowed to do pretty much anything with it, including put it into a commercial product.

I rather doubt you'll find a good contractor with requirements that vague.

My day job is for Penn State, and even faculty usually give me better requirements than that. And my boss keeps laughing when I request a purchase order for thumbscrews. :)

-- D. Jay Newman

I meant designs that uses a specific microcontroller, or requires a certain functionality. For example to control certain medical devices such as blood glucos monitoring machine or blood presure or what have you. I'm looking into designing a system to operate or calculate gizmos, preferable something far reach of the FDA. Regarding patents, who consults the lawyers prior to manufacturing or prototyping? Ric

You should have mentioned medical before this.

As an example, I would require full liability insurance costs and I would have to fully believe that this was a major improvement. I've already turned down one medical job because I figured the risk to my familly's financies wasn't worth the posssible improvement.

As a consultant, for a medical job I would require (in addition to my normal requirements): 1. The full cost of *complete* liability insurance. 2. The client would have to do all the patent searching. 3. The client would have to fully disclose all details to me. 4. A longer timeline to test the programming/device. 5. A plan from the client for how the device would be tested after prototyping.

In other words, I would have to know that what I was doing was for the public good and useful and worth the risk.

-- D. Jay Newman

OK, now you're talking $200 an hour.

If you think it's a good idea to contact an internet newsgroup in order to figure out how to build medical devices, you should do a little more research.

Building almost any medical devide requires FDA approval, and in that process, you'll learn plenty about exactly how to do this over the course of the next 10 years and $10 Million or so.

Hi,

I have designed microcontroller based medical devices. I signed on as an employee rather than a contractor. You can't sue someones employee - at least not as easily.

If you don't have about $1 million in backing right now, I would suggest not trying such a project. Also, if anyone is 'sure' they can make such a thing work, look for someone with a lot of experience and a good track record who is 'not sure'.

And even then...

Many manufacturers d> > I meant designs that uses a specific microcontroller, or requires a

Ayup. Though some companies will sell you medically certified parts for a *large* markup.

-- D. Jay Newman

Or you can get me for £20 an hour. English law applies, plus I don't have any insurance so who's going to sue me?

You can get an even better deal from India, $200 an hour will get you an entire graduate reasearch team and you even get to keep the building when they finish.

Stop thinking so small :o)

best regards

Robin G Hewitt

If you build a medical device, and sell it in the US, English law does not apply. US law does.

And if you think not having insurance protects you from a lawsuit. Whooeeee!!!!!

Kind of like not having automotive insurance protects you from having a car accident huh?

Now, I'm just teasing you, and I may be interested in hiring some programmers outside of the US for non medical projects, so don't get upset.

Robin's tongue-and-cheeck aside, what you say here is true, but they have to sue in the United States for US laws to apply. For civil cases you can't be "extridited" to face trial. It would be different if Robin ever visited the US, or if some DA or attorney general decided to press criminal charges where extridition applied.

As for judgements, Robin's defense (defence in the UK...) could be no defense. It costs him nothing, and he doesn't even show up. The court would then make a summary judgement for X dollars. How will the prevailing party collect if Robin has no assets in the US? The only way to get anything out of Robin would be to sue him in English courts, and then English law applies, regardless of where the product is sold. And if the product is not sold in the UK, the UK courts would likely turn down the case, citing venue. Robin is very clever indeed!!

-- Gordon Author: Constructing Robot Bases (Forthcoming) Robot Builder's Sourcebook, Robot Builder's Bonanza

Hi Gordon

Just out of curiosity, it is fairly obvious that I would head for the border like a scalded cat the moment the merest smell of a subpoena reached my nose. But could they do anything to stop me over a civil matter?

best regards

Robin G Hewitt