Smart home gadgetry is becoming more mainstream with technology like Google’s Home and Amazon’s Echo. Once only available with a DVR and a set of wired cameras, the latest smart security lets you see who just rang your doorbell while you sit at work with a smart phone app in real-time. You can monitor and adjust your home’s air temperature, water temperature, and light levels, and even record carbon monoxide and radon levels with a huge variety of sensors available from both established and startup companies. And now, you can become an amateur seismologist with the latest smart home technology from Kickstarter, the Raspberry Shake 4D.
Raspberry Shake 4D let’s you monitor seismic activity from your home. The 4D is an improvement on the original Shake and got its name from having four times the number of input sensors as the original. It is essentially a circuit board that connects to the Raspberry Pi and the 4D is capable of detecting terrestrial vibrations from those imperceptible by humans to significant quakes from across the globe.
The Raspberry Shake 4D uses a motion sensor, normally used in oil exploration, called a geophone. Geophones are capable of detecting seismic waves caused by quakes, volcanic eruptions, explosions and even settling caused by heavy man-made structures. The Shake 4D even picks up the vibrations from heavy traffic, cheering football fans and your especially loud next-door neighbors. The data gathered by the 4D uses the seismic industry standard miniSEED format and transmits directly to your Raspberry Pi computer in one second increments.
Low-end professional grade seismic equipment usually costs about $5000. You can get your geologic fix with the 4D for about $300 on Kickstarter with an anticipated ship date of October.
