Tricorder Project Releases Prototype Open Source 3D Printable Spectrometer

Posted by samzenpus on Monday September 9, 2013 @09:15AM from the scan-me dept.

upontheturtlesback writes "As part of developing the next open source science tricorder model, Dr. Peter Jansen of the Tricorder project has released the source to an inexpensive 3D printable visible spectrometer prototype intended for the next science tricorder, but also suitable for Arduino or other embedded electronics projects for science education. With access to a Makerbot-class 3D printer, the spectrometer can be build for about $20 in materials. The source files including hardware schematics, board layouts, Arduino/Processing sketches and example data are available on Thingiverse, and potential contributors are encouraged to help improve the spectrometer design."

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Re:Cue by usmc4o66 · 2013-09-09 10:08 · Score: 5, Informative

Gene Roddenberry saw this coming, and made sure the name was usable without a trademark issue. http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tricorder "...due to a clause in Gene Roddenberry's contracts with Desilu/Paramount dating back to the time of The Original Series. The clause specified that if any company could find a way to make one of the fictional devices actually work, then they would have the right to use the name."