Multicolored Keyless Entry System

mollyhackit writes "Here's a how-to guide for building a keyless entry that uses color identification instead of numbers. All eight buttons are initially blue; as you press the individual buttons they change color. Cycle the colors to your particular pattern, and you're in. This lock obviously wasn't designed for high security use since anyone in the same room would be able to see you and your amazing technicolor dream lock's pattern; it's just a fun project and will keep the youngins out of your workshop (timer prevents brute forcing). The RGB buttons are monome clones from hobby shop Sparkfun."

Comments

Amusing, but a problem for one in ten men?

[SlashTon]

It's a fun project and a cool toy, but I hope it would never see serious application.

Considering that between 7% and 10% of men are red-green color blind (other types of color blindness at a few percentage points). This kind of lock could pose serious problems for a significant part of the population.

"What? You set the password to the garage door to Red Green Green Red? Guess I'm walking to work again..."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorblindness

Re:Amusing, but a problem for one in ten men?

[Anonymous Coward]

You could still use it if you are not color blind - and if you carefully select the colors your lock will be 7% less vulnerable to shoulder surfing.

It's not a bug, it's a feature.

Re:Amusing, but a problem for one in ten men?

[0100010001010011]

Why the hell would someone or someone living with someone that was blind install one of these? No one is forcing you to use them. It's like saying "10% of the population is in wheel chairs. I hope stairs never see any sort of wide spread use".

Some people may be better with colors than numbers. Give them the option of making this their remote less garage door opener: "green green blue blue red purple green" garage door opens.

Re:While occasional steps backwards are inevitable

[Fluffeh]

Well, look out captain obvious.

The whole point of this is that the person putting this together might enjoy the experience of putting it together, get satisfaction from a finished product and have a cool novelty way of opening or closing a door.

Do you think that people making transistor radios do it for fun, or because they think that $20 worth of electronic junk from a electronic junk store will give them better sound than a manufactured stereo system?

I rarely go to this level of pointing out a clear case of "swing and miss" with a reply/post - but wow!

Actually useful

[Anonymous Coward]

One reason it's useful - if you have a door lock with a code, you wear the numbers away on the keys that form the code, significantly reducing security. For instance, I have a bank card widget (standard in some parts of Europe) which I need to authenticate with my bank by means of challenge-response; it eventually becomes obvious what your card PIN is because those numbers wear more, and the object itself becomes a security risk. This way, your software can ensure even use of buttons.

Blind people and the colourblind need not apply, however...

Re:While occasional steps backwards are inevitable

[Anonymous Coward]

aside from the rainbow. (Which you have to remember with a mnemonic anyway, despite it being the ONE color sequence you will ever learn in your life!)

Maybe I'm just too geeky, but in addition to ROYGBIV, I've also learnt the shorter sequences RGB and CMYK.

Re:Dads workshop

[jrumney]

I think you underestimate the capabilities of 3, 2 and even 1 year olds. My youngest is 20 months old, and any "child-proof" device to keep him out of things is useless already. My kids can get things apart that I didn't even know came apart, and when I ask them, they show me how they did it, so its not just random brute force they're using.

Re:While occasional steps backwards are inevitable

[Stooshie]

... So now this is a hobby site? News for HOBBYISTS? OK ...

I don't know, but you may be a professional electronic locksmith and for you this might be just a play-thing.

But for me, a programmer, this is interesting and a good introduction to building a small piece of hardware. I know shamefully little about electronics (well, what I can remeber from 1st year uni. physics)

Doesn't stop me being a nerd though.

Re:Useful tool

[J'ai Friedpork]

Then don't buy those products. It's unreasonable to expect 90% of us to avoid using a technology because the remaining 10% can't. (Or, put another way, if I make something for myself, don't get worked up if you're different enough from me that it doesn't work for you as well.)