NASA Engineer Gets Revenge on Package Thieves with Glitter Bomb Trap

Package thieves are annoying no matter what time of year it is, but if you’ve bought a present for someone else ready for the holiday season and it hasn’t turned up, that’s even more irritating.

When Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer, found that his parcels were being stolen, he decided to do something about it. He first caught the culprits on his home camera and then went to the police. But, he was told they were unable to do anything.

So, Rober took matters into his own hands, adding: “If anyone was going to make a revenge bait package and over-engineer the crap out of it, it was going to be me.”

Rober has worked on hundreds of projects from building a gigantic Nerf blasters to the world’s largest horn. He posts the resulting videos on his YouTube channel which has a huge fanbase of 4.5 million subscribers.

His most recent video will have anyone who has recently had a parcel stolen subscribing. Rober’s design is a Glitter Bomb Trap which incorporates a few 3D printed components.

What’s worse than having your parcel stolen? Being covered in glitter for days to come and being caught sparkly handed on camera.

Rober adds that this invention“might be my Magnum Opus”. It took him 6 months, lots of design iterations and “so much testing” to complete. Check out the result…

Spraying Glitter at Baddies Home Alone Style

The glitter bomb trap is disguised as a regular package, left outside Rober’s front door. However, those who know their 90s film references would know to be wary as the sender is labeled as Kevin McCallister (the Home Alone character).

Only when the box is moved does the internal device begin playing tricks on thieves. The device uses 1lb of the “world’s finest glitter”, four smartphones hidden in a 3D printed portion, a accelerometer and a circuit board.

When moved, the device’s GPS signals the phones to record. Finally, when the box reaches its final destination and is opened, a cup spins around and spits out glitter at the thieves, capturing them on camera and microphone.

As mentioned, it also releases an awful smell thanks to a can of fart spray which is released by a 3D printed actuator and DC motor.

Already, the parcel has been stolen on “several occasions” which can be enjoyed in the video above. Each time, Rober sets it back to re-explode another time. Hopefully the thieves caught will think twice about stealing a parcel from now on.

Source: Hackaday