‘Easily the dumbest thing I’ve ever built’: Guy puts spikes and taser on Steam Deck to stop family from using it
Have you ever been sick of your family using your electronics without asking, and thought ‘boy, I should put spikes and a taser on this thing’? If the answer is yes, then you’re like Redditor ConroyyJenkinss (presumably no relation to Leroy), who has done just that.
Taking to the Steam Deck subreddit, they recently announced “I Built a Security System for My Steam Deck”, and it is one heck of a security system.
steamdeck
from r/SteamDeck/comments/1v6osor/i_built_a_security_system_for_my_steam_deck
“I got sick of my family always draining my Steam Deck’s battery and not recharging it”, ConroyyJenkinss said, so they decided to 3D print a spiky case they made in Blender to snap onto the side of the device. That makes it tough to hold.
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From there, they rigged up a Raspberry Pi with a speaker to an object detection camera, and wrote a Python script to “play a goofy audio clip” and set off a taser fitted to the top of the Deck after a few seconds. No, they don’t say what the audio is. As far as I can tell, the taser is just there to scare would-be battery thieves, as it can’t make contact from its perch above the Steam Deck.
You might be wondering why the Redditor didn’t simply put a password on the Steam Deck and leave it at that. Jenkinss says, “This minimises the risk of them touching my Steam Deck at all, they are forced to ask for permission now.”
Naturally, this defense mechanism isn’t designed to actually serve its purpose. It’s a goofy experiment that is done just to see if it can be done. Jenkinss even acknowledges in the comment section that disarming the taser and taking the spike case off is a hassle. I suppose there’s more justification to keep the device safe, with it recently seeing a huge price increase.
One redditor in the comments section calls it “hostile architecture for gadgets”, and now I’d love to see a tournament of the most abrasive and over-the-top defence mechanisms against the painful experience of having your family waste your battery life.
ConroyyJenkinss says it is “easily the dumbest thing I’ve ever built but it works, and nobody touches my Steam Deck anymore.”
Yeah, I can see why.
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