Hardware hacking workshop at a regional security conference...
__red__
Posts: 470
I'm trying to put together a proposal for a hardware hacking workshop and talk at a regional computer security conference. There is a fine tradition of this at some of the larger conferences such as defcon:
http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/defcon-18-badge/
or skydogcon:
http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/skydogcon1/rious-making-of-the-skydogcon-electronic-badge
to create electronics conference "badges".
The conference I'm considering soliciting is in my opinion the ideal conference for this kind of electronics evangelism. It's a community conference with a "no vendors" rule which means that it attracts an extremely technical crowd with an almost zero Point Haired Boss quotent :-). It also religiously guards its single track approach which means that every attendee gets to see every talk.
In previous years others have done "hardware hacking" talks here which mostly centered around the arduino platform. Specifically, the talk demonstrated writing arduino software, the arduino IDE and blinking lights.
In my experience there are two types of people in this hobby and believe me you can recognise them in this forum. There are those that come to the platform because they have a specific job they want to fulfil. They have their plan, their project, they use the quickstart or protoboard, write their software. Their joy is in the completed project. Then there are those who are never finished because they find the joy in the design, the construction, the problem solving and the sheer excitement of learning.
This conference is I believe a target rich environment for people who hack and build stuff for the joy of learning. It's all about the journey, not the destination. As such, I believe a better talk for this audience would be based around the hardware, not the software. So, I want to walk them through the basic process of designing and building stuff soup to nuts to try and inspire them to do it themselves.
I want them to see the my Propeller Professional Developer Kit and its breadboard and how I designed and tested the circuit.
I want them to see my schematic and how I went to PCB. PCBs are magical to those that have never made them. People giggle when they find silly cartoon characters hiding in the copper layer under the mask :-)
I want them to see my acid-etched prototypes
I want them to see the professional boards as they come back from the fabricator.
Most importantly, I want them to build their own badges. I want them to get their hands dirty. Electronic conference badges are cool and to get them at the other conferences you have to know someone in some secret society. If someone is willing to drag themselves away from the bar for 30 minutes to learn how to put it all together them I want them to have it. I want them to walk away with a new set of skills and to realise that hardware is not as hard as they may think it is.
I want to do something different and I'm coming to these forums to seek advice on some ideas as to what to implement.
I don't want blinkenlights. I'm sick of people thinking that LEDs are the be all and end all of hobbyist embedded development.
My first thought was a themed quickstart-like board but without some kind of real sensor or real output what else are people going to do with it at a conference than blink LEDs. Again, that doesn't inspire people.
Adding something like an alcohol sensor could provide endless amusement. Adding male + female UARTs so badges could talk to each other (bluetooth et al just sounds too expensive), exchange "karma points" or play some kind of game would also be cool. Whatever it is it needs to be something that would encourage social interaction between badge holders so it would encourage those watching to want to go spend the 30 minutes and build one for themselves...
Man, I'd love an RFID reader design but I'm guessing that's way too hard for me to pull off.
So, anyone got any suggestions before I start propositioning vendors for their support?
Thanks,
Red
http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/defcon-18-badge/
or skydogcon:
http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=videos/skydogcon1/rious-making-of-the-skydogcon-electronic-badge
to create electronics conference "badges".
The conference I'm considering soliciting is in my opinion the ideal conference for this kind of electronics evangelism. It's a community conference with a "no vendors" rule which means that it attracts an extremely technical crowd with an almost zero Point Haired Boss quotent :-). It also religiously guards its single track approach which means that every attendee gets to see every talk.
In previous years others have done "hardware hacking" talks here which mostly centered around the arduino platform. Specifically, the talk demonstrated writing arduino software, the arduino IDE and blinking lights.
In my experience there are two types of people in this hobby and believe me you can recognise them in this forum. There are those that come to the platform because they have a specific job they want to fulfil. They have their plan, their project, they use the quickstart or protoboard, write their software. Their joy is in the completed project. Then there are those who are never finished because they find the joy in the design, the construction, the problem solving and the sheer excitement of learning.
This conference is I believe a target rich environment for people who hack and build stuff for the joy of learning. It's all about the journey, not the destination. As such, I believe a better talk for this audience would be based around the hardware, not the software. So, I want to walk them through the basic process of designing and building stuff soup to nuts to try and inspire them to do it themselves.
I want them to see the my Propeller Professional Developer Kit and its breadboard and how I designed and tested the circuit.
I want them to see my schematic and how I went to PCB. PCBs are magical to those that have never made them. People giggle when they find silly cartoon characters hiding in the copper layer under the mask :-)
I want them to see my acid-etched prototypes
I want them to see the professional boards as they come back from the fabricator.
Most importantly, I want them to build their own badges. I want them to get their hands dirty. Electronic conference badges are cool and to get them at the other conferences you have to know someone in some secret society. If someone is willing to drag themselves away from the bar for 30 minutes to learn how to put it all together them I want them to have it. I want them to walk away with a new set of skills and to realise that hardware is not as hard as they may think it is.
I want to do something different and I'm coming to these forums to seek advice on some ideas as to what to implement.
I don't want blinkenlights. I'm sick of people thinking that LEDs are the be all and end all of hobbyist embedded development.
My first thought was a themed quickstart-like board but without some kind of real sensor or real output what else are people going to do with it at a conference than blink LEDs. Again, that doesn't inspire people.
Adding something like an alcohol sensor could provide endless amusement. Adding male + female UARTs so badges could talk to each other (bluetooth et al just sounds too expensive), exchange "karma points" or play some kind of game would also be cool. Whatever it is it needs to be something that would encourage social interaction between badge holders so it would encourage those watching to want to go spend the 30 minutes and build one for themselves...
Man, I'd love an RFID reader design but I'm guessing that's way too hard for me to pull off.
So, anyone got any suggestions before I start propositioning vendors for their support?
Thanks,
Red
Comments
Or share contact information by pressing send and receive and use a hall effect sensor on one to receive from an electromagnet on the other? The electromagnet would simply be a PCB etched antenna on the board.
How about using this ninja-star propeller board - after asking of course?
How much are you willing to spend per badge? 1PCB, 1 prop, 1 IR transceiver, 1 battery, 1 button, 1LED, 1 EEPROM - all the rest is optional - maybe you can sell an optional part-package?
Why not exchange using zigbee or bluetooth? Put small OLED to see name/nickname/handle/whatever and pushbutton to accept/exchange and maybe alternate button to go promiscuous and poll/capture any and all?
Frank
I got a card and swiper that read/writes to cards for about 15 bucks with cards being less than a buck each (both from Parallax) and used it for specific tracking at a company. It holds a little bit of information and would be a simple demo for what you are taking about. Doing everything would be much less than 30 minutes giving time for a "lab" ... and no blinking lights
Perhaps you could set it up to open a lock via a servo or something similar?
What I understand is, that this badge will be a giveaway ... so, I think the price-tag is somehow important. So, I'd put the zigbee/bluetooth solution into the optional packages ;o)
I think the second most important here is that you produce a badge that is also usefull after that event. So, before adding a zigbee/bluetooth I'd suggest to spend that money to add a FTDI / USB-plug.
True, but it was 1. Cool and hackerish, 2. A wishlist thing, 3. Not so range limited.
There are a couple of DIY sites w/ homebuilt RFID readers as well for cheap and cool, need to know what everyone would have for badge/token. Oh, they would need a way to keep the badge from causing issues with reading others. I cary multiple id's formy sites and if not careful, one will cancel/scramble the other and prevent access. So prox and interference part of original idea after stealth factor appeal.
Frank