This Guy Opened A Medical Device And Found A Game Boy Inside
This Guy Opened A Medical Device And Found A Game Boy Inside
By Mustafa GatollariUpdated Nov. 18 2019, 2:18 p.m. ET
When you think of advanced medical equipment, you probably think that they're made out of delicate technical wizardry that's too difficult for the layman to comprehend.
But as Twitter user Jan Henrik recently discovered, some equipment that doctors use on a regular basis aren't as complex as you'd believe.
When he opened an ECG-Trigger-Unit box, he found out that the screen located in the device was seemingly taken straight from a Game Boy Advance SP, plastic casing, with the logo and all.
Wait what? pic.twitter.com/E2BlbH7cO7
— Jan Henrik (@JanHenrikH) September 21, 2017Yep, so this machine that's monitoring your heart can also play Metroid.
das ist ein Game-Boy Advance...
._. pic.twitter.com/9Hi6Knp8TS
Twitter was tickled pink by the find. And had some questions.
Now that’s what I call “using off the shelf components” ! https://t.co/a11MW9lwU3
— chris meidinger (@cmeid) September 21, 2017Was this mass produced? Does it mean they had to buy one Gameboy for each unit?
— Arturo TorresSánchez (@R2D221) September 21, 2017I guess so, but the market for this is very small
— Jan Henrik (@JanHenrikH) September 21, 2017And it turns out that the Gameboy was a pretty hacktacular device.
gameboys were used a lot for stuff like this. sewing machines etc. before raspberry pi, GB was a cheap hackable “micro controller+display”
— Slippery Seal (@slipperyseal) September 21, 2017No doubt about that, but I was surprised to see a GB in a professional medical device
— Jan Henrik (@JanHenrikH) September 21, 2017And it wasn't long before someone made a Dr. Mario reference.
don’t worry, Dr Mario has us covered.. pic.twitter.com/Q3pMD8McZB
— Slippery Seal (@slipperyseal) September 21, 2017Apparently this ECG system's blueprints aren't exactly a secret.
"The Design of a Portable ECG Measurement
Instrument Based on a GBA Embedded System" https://t.co/6Xtd06Kzay
The more you know.
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