If you’re a fan of Star Trek, you might appreciate the work of [PeterAJansen], who has spent over a decade developing a device that could be considered a tricorder. His latest creation, the Open Source Science Tricorder Cyberdeck, is getting close to that sci-fi ideal.
Fig: It looks more usable than Roddenberry’s version.
While the term “tricorder” implies three instruments, this device boasts many more. Instead of scanning for veteron radiation like in the show, it features a scintillation crystal for spectroscopic analysis of radiation, along with a visible light spectrometer, thermal camera, magnetic field camera, magnetometer, and various environmental sensors measuring temperature, pressure, humidity, VOCs, and CO2 levels. It’s not clear if it’s enough to explore an alien planet, but it certainly covers a lot of ground for Earth!
Built around a Clockwork Pi uConsole, the Cyberdeck consists of a compact slabtop design featuring a QWERTY keyboard and an IPS display, powered by a Compute Module 5 for data processing. While it may lack the finesse of the original Star Trek designs, its practicality shines through. There are videos of the device in action and assembly available on the GitHub repository, where you can find all the information needed to create your own as it’s an open-source project.
This isn’t the first attempt at making a tricorder; previous projects often leaned more towards aesthetics than functionality. However, Peter’s earlier “arducorder” was a notable exception, prioritizing scientific capability.
Thanks to [MarcCote] for the tip! If you discover something intriguing in cyberspace, remember our hailing frequencies are always open.
