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I've Built Myself An Artificial Pancreas!

tim2000s

tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
8,936
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
I've been away from the forum for a little bit as I was on holiday. Whilst away I had a fair old bit of time and built myself the OpenAPS artificial Pancreas.

Running it closed loop it really does a great job, although once you've built it you want to start upgrading it almost immediately! I wrote a bit about it on my blog, here http://www.diabettech.com/cgm/build...al-pancreas-or-how-i-spent-my-summer-holiday/

If you have the inclination, it's well worth doing!
 
Very nice Tim. Makes you wonder why the big companies hadnt done all this long ago with the pumps.
 
andcol said:
Very nice Tim. Makes you wonder why the big companies hadnt done all this long ago with the pumps.
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The issue for them I'd that they have to prove these things are safe in the hands of people with no idea how they work. The DIy approach means you have to understand.
 
andcol said:
Very nice Tim. Makes you wonder why the big companies hadnt done all this long ago with the pumps.
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Two words: liability risk

If you build your own, your the only one you can sue.
 
I'm just in complete awe. Very, very well done doesn't come close to covering it.

:bookworm:
 
If I buy you a cornet, can you do me a TimTim pump pleeeeeeeeze xxxxx xx

Seriously......apart from inserting an infusion set, filling cartridge with insulin and priming tube, does this masterpiece dose adjust according to bg levels from cgm data or is there a bit more too it all?
 
@tim2000s. Congratulations.
I have read what you did in Cornwall,
I have no idea what you have achieved or how, that's my fault I have no idea about technology,
You have obviously put in a great deal of time and effort whilst on holiday in order, I assume, to make D management easier.
From little acorns oak trees grow!!!!!!
 
Just a bit of a random thought from me, @tim2000s . Do you get a free divorce with that pump, or have you had to promise untold favour in return?
 
Well done Tim, what a brilliant achievement, I too am in awe, would love to have the it know how to do the same, look forward to hearing more ;)
 
Well done @tim2000s That's very cool :cool: I'd like to see more information about it, so keep us updated :)

I hope you managed to do some holiday type things too :p
 
catapillar said:
Two words: liability risk

If you build your own, your the only one you can sue.
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Liability doesn't wash because we would never advance if that was it. They did pumps and all manner of devices and go through trials etc to get them worked out and stable. They have lots of money! So the question still stands: Why didn't they bother? It could be a patent thing of course which is something you can ignore if it is for your personal use.
 
Truly awesome. Maybe you could consider sending an outline of what you have done to all of the big tech companies for either sponsorship or who knows where it could lead; an open tweet I am sure would get attention.
 
andcol said:
Liability doesn't wash because we would never advance if that was it. They did pumps and all manner of devices and go through trials etc to get them worked out and stable. They have lots of money! So the question still stands: Why didn't they bother? It could be a patent thing of course which is something you can ignore if it is for your personal use.
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Medtronic have something like this going through FDA approval at the moment.

Bigfoot are undertaking clinical trials prior to FDA submission.

Companies are looking at it, but, they have to make them foolproof as there will be plenty of people who will use it without knowing anything and it needs to just work in that scenario!
 
iHs said:
If I buy you a cornet, can you do me a TimTim pump pleeeeeeeeze xxxxx xx

Seriously......apart from inserting an infusion set, filling cartridge with insulin and priming tube, does this masterpiece dose adjust according to bg levels from cgm data or is there a bit more too it all?
Click to expand...
Yes, this is what it does. It also determines changes in insulin sensitivity and will adjust insulin levels following a meal as it detects errors in your bolusing if you go high, for example.

It's pretty cool!
 
Respect !!
 
andcol said:
Liability doesn't wash because we would never advance if that was it. They did pumps and all manner of devices and go through trials etc to get them worked out and stable. They have lots of money! So the question still stands: Why didn't they bother? It could be a patent thing of course which is something you can ignore if it is for your personal use.
Click to expand...

It's not just liability - although the the cost if someone ends up with a significant brain injury requiring 24/7 care for life that would be liability of millions, like potentially double figure millions. Clearly that's an unlikely extreme worst case scenario, but that's how risk analysis works. Not to mention the complete halt in sales that would happen if there was a technical glitch that killed someone. They need to make the risk of the worst case vanishingly small, whoever is using it.

It's also regulatory. EC marks/FDA approval to be allowed to bring it to market it would have to be fool proof. And I think that until relatively recently, the hardware to provide that foolproof safety factor was just too big to actually be able to carry it round with you, unless you had a shopping trolley!

I don't think they aren't bothering. I think there are just a lot of hoops to jump through. And not just hoops for the sake of it, but real safety assurances. Several companies are very bothered, and are very heavily investing, they are getting there with closed loop AP. Fingers crossed available in the UK by 2018? I want one with glucagon in though please :)

That's not anywhere near as catchy as two words: liability risk, though, and it's more vividly pessimistic, which is a bit of a shame, because @tim2000s new toy is undeniably awesome!
 
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