Ask HN: Seeeking help to reverse engineer a PCB

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.

20 points | by Dlg001 2 days ago

8 comments

  • aappleby 1 day ago
    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.

    [-]
    • leetbulb 1 day ago
      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.

  • 15155 1 day ago
    > 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.

  • jdboyd 5 hours ago
    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.
  • estimator7292 18 hours ago
    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.

  • dghlsakjg 1 day ago
    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.

  • csnate 1 day ago
    Reverse engineering is my bread and butter. I’d be willing to look into this for you.

    Feel free to reach out: [email protected]

  • iamflimflam1 1 day ago
    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?

  • iancmceachern 1 day ago
    We do this all day, would be very happy to help.

    www.iancollmceachern.com