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Robot Lock Picker — Parallax Forums

Robot Lock Picker

ercoerco Posts: 20,254
in Robotics
Pretty cool project, even if Ardy-based (do criminals, scalliwags & ne'er-do-wells gravitate to Arduino?). First vid is lockpicking tech, second shows robot in action. Kiddies, don't do this! I always heard that key locks are more secure than combination locks, maybe so if this guy is right.









Comments

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,254
    Edit: Mods, please move to Robotics.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    They stole the idea from James Bond:



    In his version, the safe cracking computer is combined with a copier for stealing documents.
  • Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 418
    edited 2017-01-05 18:40
    And there's an example of why I didn't like that movie. Ho-hum, let's crack the safe.

    Compare to Sean Connery doing it in an earlier James Bond:


    (edited to get rid of the board video embed)
  • John AbshierJohn Abshier Posts: 1,116
    When I worked for the U.S. Army, we had high security locks that looked for randomness in the turns and if a machine was turning the lock it would not open. I don't remember how much the cost, but were very expensive.

    John Abshier
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Wait a minute. Most of that vid is The Saint not Bond.

    All that safe cracking stuff is not so far fetched.

    Richard Feynman told great stories of his time opening secure cabinets in Los Alamos.

    Now a days we have bluetooth locks that are even easier to open even without hacking any wireless protocol:
  • KeithEKeithE Posts: 957
    Now that the beans have been spilled about a built-in randomness detector, they can consider that as an optional mode for the combo breaker ;-)
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    "randomness detector"?

    Sounds bogus to me. Expensive but bogus. Like many military things.

    Testing any sequence for randomness is an insoluble problem.
  • JasonDorieJasonDorie Posts: 1,930
    True, but testing for things like the dial turning at a fixed speed, or fixed delays between moves isn't hard. I've seen keyboard password entry systems that used techniques like this to improve security - people tend to be pretty non-robotic. :)
  • KeithEKeithE Posts: 957
    Heater - but think about all of the locks you can sell with new and improved randomness detectors as each generation is cracked.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,254
    Lock security upgrades? Starting to sound like annual antivirus fees...
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2017-01-05 04:55
    Any randomness detector can be overcome by a randomness creator. That seems like an easy foil to overcome. Far better to go into over-protect mode after more than a few failed tries. Three mistakes and the outer vault locks the crook inside, and calls the cops.

    Jeff, could you edit your post so that your YouTube video is just the link, outside the phony [ video] BB code? Those of us who disallow Flash (worst than cheap combination locks for security) get an annoying download attempt for the containing swf file -- and we can't see the video.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2017-01-05 05:11
    Jeff Haas wrote: »
    And there's an example of why I didn't like that movie. Ho-hum, let's crack the safe.

    Curiously, this film is ranked high (for non-Connery roles) among fans of Bond films. (It is my personal favorite behind Thunderball, but that may have more to do with my age when I saw it, and I've always had a "thing" for Diana Rigg.) The score in this section is considered one of John Barry's more suspenseful.

    I'm trying to remember if the safe bit was in the book, but in any case, Bond's reading of the Playboy during the uncracking is said to have come from the fact this story was first serialized in the magazine in the early 60s. His taking the centerfold at the end of the scene is un-Bondlike, at least the Connery persona.

    (Truth be told, some of the original books are hard to get through. There's an ENTIRE long chapter devoted to arcane golf procedurals in Goldfinger. I think I understood every third word. OK, so Ian Fleming played golf, but come on!)

    Funny little tidbit: Back in the 70s one of my mentors from college, a retired TV producer, bought a large office desk from George Lazenby. We went over to his house to pick it up. Much more Australian-sounding in person - Lazenby that is, my mentor was from Ohio by way of Brentwood.

    Uhhh.., what we were talking about, again?


  • Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 418
    Gordon - My post is edited, it should work now.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,254
    My BS-1 safe is Bond-proof and immune to Arduino cracking.

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