When the world comes to an end and zombies run through the streets like a blood thirsty disease, it will be absolutely necessary to store a weapon (or five) away just in case an undead creature tries to get inside. In addition, stopping crooks from ransacking back up supplies will also be a primary concern as well as savage, brain-eating beasts take over the cities. Keeping objects safe with a lock box like this one would deter both undead creatures and mischievous thieves. Or at least that is what was going on in [Mattt Reamer’s] head when he took on this build.
[Matt] is a UX designer who drew inspiration from the wildly popular television series The Walking Dead. He even 3D printed the Walking Dead’s logo on the front of the blood stained box attributing the idea to the show.
The setup here uses an Arduino Uno which is powered by a 9-Volt battery. The fingerprint scanner unlocks the box by verifying the print against a reverence copy stored in the code. When the program authorizes the scan, a servo opens up the latch allowing the contents within to be retrieved. Video of the full system can be seen after the break.
Now all that comes next would be to protect those fingers.
I don’t know how well that cheap, crappy BB/dart gun is going to work against zombies
You shoot em in the brain…
It was hard enough to get these to stick a dart in the board at 10ft. Definitely would not puncture the skin on even a small bird. Sadly they weigh as much, if not more, than a fully loaded handgun.
I have a feeling though your parents never let you use such things.
Humour people. We are discussing an article that has Zombies in the title. But yeah, I remember that pellet gun actually. A friend had one years ago. Particullarly weak. But a nice heft to it. You wouldn’t want anything *real* in the box unless you’ve done a whole lot of work making sure both the box won’t open accidently, or under assault anyway right?
Every so often I remember that there are people who use “zombie apocalypse” as a code term for an expected race war. Then I wonder whether people who seem to take zombie prepping seriously just take the LARP farther than others, or if there really are deranged racists sprinkled across random sites I visit.
Then I wonder if I’ve fallen so far down the internet rabbit hole I’ve created my own Illuminati to live in fear of, like the abyss has stared into me.
I am with you BFB. It is a thinly veiled attempt at hipsters rationalizing their contempt of fellow man and wanting to kill them. Nothing more. I had a friend that absolutely hated COD as it was “too violent” but toss them into Dead Island or Left for Dead and they were laying waste to their former humans lol. I just want the whole zombie community to man up and admit that. I tend to follow Ash’s wisdom when whatever end comes, “Good. Bad. I’m the guy with the gun…”
And yes, those pistols are pretty much for decoration as had one as a kid and it wouldn’t puncture cardboard at 10′. You have to take it apart and work the spring for anything approaching 250fps ;)
I disagree about the race war conclusion, it could be anything, natural disaster, pandemic, hyperinflation, infrastructure collapse via terrorists, or our own government.
Smart people will be prepared for emergencies, sheep will be eaten.
Except I can steal the whole box and open it elsewhere
That’s all well and good until your battery goes dead (very soon) and you have to break your plastic servo horn to get your gun out.
Or just pry open the weak aluminum like frame with your hands.. Even the weak metal in keys would be strong enough to warp that metal lock box.
I would be more worried of the live rounds in the box (assuming it isn’t an empty prop) jostling about in an enclosed metal box.
What did you people play with when you were kids?
*Pry open in a way that preserves the expensive electronics.
Once yo lost the keys in these you could simply pry open a corner, remove your items, and bend it back closed without manipulating the lock.
I love the redneck attempting to turn someones hobby fun project into a political statement.
Yeah, it’s just someone having a play around making props. It’s like the cool (because you made it) version of buying a toy to use as a talking point.
Put this up next to the lock box…
http://www.partymood.com/uploads/1/3/1/0/13102344/7864918.jpg
Good for dead zombies and dead batteries!
Running out of things to publish?
“Reverence” copy? Is that a fingerprint you worship? ^_^
Just a quick notice: The rounds in the picture are empty and the gun is a toy gun. Someone getting harmed because of an unsafely stored gun due to this fun little prop is about as likely as a zombie apocalypse taking place in your city :-)
Still, remember: Lock away your guns out of reach of children – and don’t put store the key in reach of them either!
Toy guns have an orange muzzle
Hard to believe but in the 90’s I bought one of these from the Toy section of Wal-mart for $20, it came with darts and a dart board. I was probably less than 12. Times have definitely changed.
Zombies don’t run
The movie World War Z says otherwise!
Zombie Land, too! Remember: Cardio! (And don’t forget to double tap!)
And 28 Days Later…
Catagorically not zombies. “Infected”
And the new Dawn of the Dead…
Zombieland managed to nullify its own logic on so many occasions. The chief of which is actually the cardio thing.
Our protagonist never got any excercise ever by his own admission, yet he’s managed to survive whilst ignoring his own rule 1 all his life till Z-Day? Did he just magic his fitness out of thin air? He was in just as bad shape as some of the fatties whom immediately got tuned.
I’ll let Simon Pegg explain http://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/nov/04/television-simon-pegg-dead-set
The source material disagrees with the film.
Either read the book or listen to the unabridged audiobook.
It might have just been a ‘southern education’ but when I was young it seemed more viable that you would encounter a rabid animal than an intruder. We were told to be weary of any animal that approaches you, as it goes against their natural instincts. In rural areas, and especially vast wilderness, a gun was a necessity to protect yourself. A machete would suffice, but would likely be considered reckless.
It even seemed popular in 19th and 20th century literature, the protagonist would often have to face, or save, the children playing in the road as an angry rabid dog swiftly approached. Luckily a rifle was usually propped in the door or carried with the protagonist, even children.
It seems times have changed, now because of lack of education people are more likely to injure themselves with weapons. Its probably easier for a child to buy a power tool that is far more dangerous.
so if a power drill or circular saw was more dangerous why didnt they go after the dog with that rather than a rifle or machete?
i also really like that you are using fictional rather than real world examples….gives me a sense of adventure.
do you often let your children play in the road?
in my life i have frequently found myself squaring off against rabid dogs in the middle of the street so i fully understand your position.
my natural instincts tell me you are a tool but regardless of that i should probably get a rifle because some people are unstable or try to force themselves or their way of life on others
I am not sure if you are serious as the points you are making have been fabricated by yourself, but my example of power tools was clearly unintentional danger to the operator.
As with the rabid dog and prior media hype (as current zombie fad) “To Kill a Mocking Bird” was the first that came to mind.
As for playing in the road, I guess again you must be being ironically dim. Anyway, here in suburban areas kids often play and travel in the streets. In the rural areas mentioned in the example that referred to classical American literature, even more so. I see kids walking in the street in high traffic areas as of the city as well, not that I would let mine do it.
I have to admit I have never seen a rabid animal, at least to my knowledge. Then again, I have never seen an intruder so they probably do not exist.
As for carrying in the woods, its probably a ‘more safe than sorry’ situation. We are not talking about going for a ‘hike’ in a well-traveled area. You might run across a poisonous snake (rattle snakes and moccasins are popular here), where its seen as your duty to eradicate. It is not so far fetched to think you could come across some people that do not want to be found..
Sometimes you don’t see the danger coming, I have been walking in the dark and ‘scarred up’ a nearby sleeping hog, it sounded as if it was charging in my direction so I jumped and hugged the nearest tree trunk as high as I could. As you probably know their tusks are razor sharp and they will charge what they consider ‘threats’.
Even in the south there are bears.
When one is lost the signal for distress is three shots, this saved us once as a child in a swamp. As the water rose our path in had disappeared and we were unable to fund the way out in the dark. I haven’t published these great stories yet so you’ll have to have more great ‘adventures’ without citations.
Lack of education? Well that, or the majority of people live in urban environments where wild animals are not a concern. I’m from the Netherlands, where firearms are illegal. I have never used a real one (well, a 22 caliber rifle at a biathlon training course, once), have never seen a real handgun except in the holsters of police officers, nor have I felt the need. I am not less safe because of it.
Also, we don’t have lots of mass shootings. Just sayin’.
Could I avoid shooting someone unintentionally if I had to handle a weapon? Probably. In case of the coming zombie apocalypse, practice would be useful. But then, so would that machete.
To those who think I was hijacking for political reasons, maybe you are right.
However, this is in response to the comments about possible existence of zombies, as well as parallels to media hype and the realistic issue of rabies, and gun safety which were all comments I did not feel like responding to separately.
I am going to now further emphasize the education. When shooting with ‘urban’ people, with no gun training, I have to say without fail each time has been quite horrifying. The first thing they usually do wrong is point the gun in unsafe directions. The second thing is firing it rapidly, and even more sadly sideways, like they see on tv. The third most common thing is usually get hit in the face by the recoil and improper holding, positioning, and stance. Probably the most disastrous instance was when I was in the house of an urban individual and he accidentally fired off a gun while showing it in his house. He dressed thuggish in baggy clothes, so very gangster. Many of these instances have come horrifically close to death for involved parties and bystanders. Because of lack of education, the gun becomes dangerous in ways that are unintentional, as a power saw might ‘jump’/’kick’ over an unexperienced persons body parts.
@millsy: My political concern is adults mixing toys and ‘weapons’, or the idea thereof. When I was growing up a gun was a huge deal and right of passage. Its hard to explain, but after years of programming from ones parents improper use never enters the mind. For the record, I was born in the 80’s and have lived in the suburbs most of my life, but I get the perception as I am stigmatizing you(in my head) based on your comments as well.
Up north, nobody walks around the woods with a weapon, except during hunting season. What animal are you guys defending against?
Can’t speak to the north, but here in the south, trips to the country involve just that. Coyotes, wild dogs, mountain lions, and even snakes can be hazardous or even deadly that far from a hospital.
Further up north, eskimos do not travel alone without a rifle, and if they travel in pairs, one has a rifle and keeps lookout for Polar Bears.
I thought they were already busy trying not to get polaroids from sitting on the ice too long… they’re watching for bears too???
FACT: Best defense against polar bears– cut a hole in the ice and open a can of peas.
(When the bear comes up to take a pea, you kick him in the icehole)
During a trip to Fontainbleau State Park last month, at one point we discovered we were standing five feet away from a gator. Maybe a four footer. Though it was our first time being so close to one, we weren’t particularly concerned; at this size they’re not likely to attack unless threatened. We respectfully studied it for a bit (and it us), took a few photos, then moved on. Shortly afterwards we passed a park official and struck up a conversation, about the gator and other things. He knew about that gator, which was scheduled for relocation next week, and agreed it was nothing to worry about unless you did something stupid. We also asked about some of the longer hiking trails which we hadn’t yet explored. The official said they’re great, but recommended we bring a solid walking stick, as the wild hogs could act unpredictably and sometimes you have to strike one. At that point he spotted something and excused himself. Some kids had observed us at a distance while we were taking photos, and came over to see what had us so interested. And upon finding the gator, they had started throwing things at it.
Yep, there are critters that could hurt you down South, even in a public park. For most encounters a little common sense is all you need, but the same sense tells you that there is a possibility you’ll find yourself in a situation where you absolutely need a weapon, to protect yourself or someone else As the Boy Scout motto says, Be Prepared.
As for zombies? Ain’t gonna happen. But I do still have a preparedness plan, consisting of just one word: MACHETE.
Also a necessary step: attaching an acceptable power supply. 9V batteries are all well and good for playing around or if a project needs power for about a day, and that’s if it has very low consumption. That’s an Alkaline– typical capacity is only 560mAh or so, which will run an Arduino *without* attachments for about twelve hours (45mA or so without code running, and ignoring stepdown waste to overall effective capacity and reduced actual drain to the battery from the same), also assuming default clock rate and running a -PU chip in it.
hi, if considering a real application for such a lock, the battery is not the biggest concern. Using a full arduino board is. If doing a battery powered device, rolling a board based on a 328p is more interesting. Without the whole board, you can easily get a power consumption of around a few milliamps (mine was around 3-4 mA, at 3.3V, 8Mhz). If needed, the watchdog timer can be used to lower further the average power to a few microamps.
More on this : http://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=11497
In this post, Nick Gammon achieves 0.1-0.3 mA power usage by the atmega without sleep, and much lower with sleep and wake up.
Then, a 9v battery will do; but 2-3 AA cell will also do :)
PS : i also used simple circuits like that without voltage regulation, and it works. The problem is for analog reads, but if using digital sensors, it is not really a concern (VCC ranges from 3.6V to 3.0V with 3 AA, and 4.2 to 3V with a lipo…)
I’d suggest a physical on/off switch, and a lithium battery pack (Energizer Ultimate or equivalent, not one of the cell phone LiOn packs… those are a different animal).
Everyone’s so darned busy writing power state control into code that no one remembers how versatile a physical make/break power switch can be. (shuffles away muttering about kids and lawns and such…)
I just store my zombie weapon on my hip. Unfortunately too many wussy states don’t allow it.
“I just store my zombie weapon on my hip. Unfortunately too many wussy states don’t allow me to compensate for my small penis.”
FTFY
and yet you’re still making a basic assumption…
You are a total d-bag
A 40 year old BB gun and empty shell casings won’t help you much… But then neither would the box itself.
I’ve never seen The Walking Dead, but from what I’ve learned from zombie movies, you cannot kill a zombie with a gun. The only way to do it is to separate the head from the body. Am I wrong?
It depends on the variety (or strain) as to speed, but common to most varieties is a bullet to the brain kills. It’s the highlander series where the head has to be cut off.
Very interesting culture we’re building, isn’t it?
I’m usually the last person to dump on someone for making a hack, but this is a biometric gun safe. There’s nothing special about it. It is a biometric gun safe like the millions of others available on the market.
Addendum – as a firearm enthusiast, I hate it when HaD posts something to do with firearms, because then I have to see political opinions on my favorite tech site. Anyone else agree?
You said the program runs on the arduino. But don’t you know that there are no programs running on shitduinos?