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

While occasional steps backwards are inevitable...

[patio11]

... I fail to see how a lock which is inferior to existing locks in every possible way AND is not cool, unless you are a four year old who has just learned the word "blue", is in any way interesting. Aside from "count how many extra attacks and failure modes we make possible just by mapping a numeric key to color codes".

Failure mode: You can remember numbers in a sequence much better than you can remember colors, because you've been taught forever that numbers are sequential data and colors have never been taught to you that way 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!)

Failure mode: Color blind people, a non-trivial percent of the population. (Folks with generically impaired vision, too, since it is presumably harder to make the order of cycled colors obvious than it is to make the order of cycled numbers obvious.)