GigaOM » Bunnie Huang

Open-source geiger counter about to score over $100K on Kickstarter

Katie Fehrenbacher — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:14:35 +0000

A limited edition run of the open-source geiger counter designed by Xbox hacker and Chumby co-founder, Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, is about to score over $100,000 on Kickstarter in less than an hour. Huang designed the geiger counter as a way to help citizens in Japan detect radiation in the wake of the nuclear disaster in the face of a lack of reliable, official data.

The funding will go to the Safecast group, which has been creating an open source data base of radiation contamination for the people impacted by Fukushima (they’ve got 3 million data points). Geiger manufacturer International Medcom has agreed to start producing the design. You need to pledge at least $400 to get one of the limited geiger counters, and $7,500 will get you a tour around the areas in Japan with Safecast.

After several iterations of the geiger counter, Huang designed the tool to be “suitable for everyday civilian use,” affordable, intuitive, easy to use and “sufficiently stylish,” he wrote earlier this year. The final design includes:

Extensive logging capabilities
The ability to work in scenarios where Internet and power have been out for days
A sensor that can detect all three forms of radiation (Alpha, Beta and Gamma)
450 mAh Li-poly battery
Accelerometer so sensor orientation can be recorded
128×128 color OLED display
microUSB port for charging and data upload interface

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The world’s first radiation sensing cell phone

Katie Fehrenbacher — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:57:39 +0000

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan’s brought the world the Geigergram, the open source Geiger counter gadget, and now the world’s first radiation-sensing cell phone, according to Asiajin. Softbank announced on Monday that it would start shipping the Pantone 5 (107SH), a cell phone made by Sharp, on the Android platform, complete with a radiation measurement in it.

By pressing a dedicated button, users can measure radiation and track it on a map. The phone comes in eight different colors.

The move shows just how commonplace radiation fears have become in certain parts of Japan, and also spotlights how everyday Japanese are opting for a sort of grassroots style system for making sure their food, water and environment are safe. There was widespread distrust of government radiation data in the wake of Fukushima and many Japanese citizens have started doing their own measurements.

In the same vein, Xbox hacker and co-founder of the Chumby project, Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, designed an open-source Geiger counter for Japanese citizens earlier this year. Huang designed the Geiger counter to be “suitable for everyday civilian use,” affordable, intuitive, easy to use and “sufficiently stylish.”

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Xbox & Chumby hacker designs open-source Geiger counter

Katie Fehrenbacher — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:00:58 +0000

Xbox hacker and co-founder of the Chumby project, Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, has designed an open-source Geiger counter to help citizens in Japan detect radiation in the wake of the nuclear disaster, Huang writes on his blog. After several design iterations, Huang writes that he created a Geiger-counter design that he wanted to be “suitable for everyday civilian use,” affordable, intuitive, easy to use and “sufficiently stylish.”

Above is the final design, and to the right, one of the prototypes. The final design includes:

Extensive logging capabilities
The ability to work in scenarios where Internet and power have been out for days
A sensor that can detect all three forms of radiation.

(It doesn’t have a radio (wireless capabilities).)

Huang says he doesn’t plan on manufacturing the Geiger counter, but has donated the design to the community (and open-sourced it), and that means a long-time Geiger counter maker International Medcom will be able to commercialize the product if they choose. Huang says it cost $3,000 to make the design and the two prototypes. Not bad.

Some of the designs that Huang abandoned I’ve included below:

Images courtesy of Bunnie Huang.

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