Jan 2, 2019 | By Cameron
As the popularity of online shopping continues to skyrocket, a new criminal is appearing on home security camera footage everywhere: the porch pirate. They disguise themselves as casual walker-bys, but they’re actually walking up to front doors and grabbing recently-delivered packages before the actual residents can retrieve them. This type of crime can be especially lucrative around the holidays as people are ordering more expensive electronics and toys as gifts for others. After ex-NASA engineer Mark Rober became a victim of one of these pesky porch pirates, he made a solemn oath to seek sweet, sparkly vengeance… err, justice. Yes, justice.
Rober designed components that are currently on the Mars rover, on Mars, so if anyone could over-engineer a bait package that covers thieves in glitter, it’s him. So Rober began a six-month quest that involved creating a custom circuit board, designing and 3D printing the housing, connecting the various switches and motors, and writing the code to make it all work. And this was no ordinary glitter bomb that tosses a wisp of glitter upon opening. No, no, that’s for amateurs of which Rober is not.
This glitter bomb is enabled with GPS tracking so that it only becomes armed if it’s removed from the geofence that surrounds Rober’s property. And once the lid is lifted, a specially-designed cup full of extra-fine glitter is rapidly spun by a motor that ejects glitter in every direction. All the while, four omnidirectional, cloud-synced cameras film the responses of the surprised thieves. Oh, and a gut-wrenching fart spray is activated repeatedly until the lid is put back on. Take that and be warned, ne'er-do-wells.
If 3D printing can’t be used to coat criminals with glitter and the smell of farts, what is it good for, really?
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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It seems apparent that Tristan hasn't seen the full video
Tristan wrote at 1/10/2019 9:15:11 AM:
Doesn't the thief end up with four phones and a GPS tracker though? That's worth getting a bit glittery for.
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