News The USB-based door lock

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/10/23/the-usb-based-door-lock/1

The Makers Local 256 has released plans to build a computerised door lock which reads the unique ID of any USB-connected device and uses it as a key to gain access.

 

you could use your phone/ipod with the right lead

 

not very good when there's a power cut, but it's still a cool idea

 

just get an uninteruptable power supply and that should solve that problem. i like the idea and might try it, just for the heck of it.

peace

fatman

 

Cool.

If i'd still be working at the school this would be neat. I could use the override to unlock the door whenever someone knocked on the door and i would be able to show off to the geeky students by opening the door without a key.

I guess it could be operated via the network too. The possibilities are endless...

 

bluetooth door opener would be cool. just leave the bluetooth on in your phone and when u walk up it unlocks

 

Pointless

 

My thoughts exactly...

I will make a system that all you need will be a finger. Press a buttom and it will open. Cool, huh?

 

Not a bad idea... though I suppose it works on the same principal as any other form of electronic identification...

My concern is durability, the USB connector isn't the strongest thing in the world, and even through irregular use I have managed to bend and break a good few... if somebody puts any force on it while it is connected, or has to put it in at an awkward angle, I can see it quickly wearing down...

 

I like it, dont think it will ge a good idea to keep a spare usb drive under the door mat thou. Think it would be a lot better with (as mentioned before) bluetooth or rfid or something like that, or an actual use for a biometric scanners. Right im going to stop now, as the landlord would kill me if i tried to implement any lock like that

 

replace the microcontroller and the PC with a gumstick.

 

In the end can anything really beat a physical key? I like the bluetooth idea but would it ever be secure enough?

 

Hm. Build some custom circuits, and one could prolly run something like that without the Host PC, and off a Battery of sorts...
And if it's small enough, one could use something like that to, say, boot up a PC...

 

Kinda pointless, but with the modding spirit of 'because I can' it's also kinda cool

 

This does seem a little pointless. There are tons of different door access control systems available that use more suitable key replacements than a USB device. I just think something like a swipe card, RFID proximity token or finger print is a more suitable key but I guess these have all been done before. As a proof of concept, the rest of the design is more useful and I'd certainly be interested in trying this out with a different form of access token.