Updated Raspberry Shake promises better detection of Earth movement

A next-generation version of the Raspberry Shake can now detect vibration in a greater range of dimensions.

A next-generation version of the popular Raspberry Shake, a personal home Earth monitor, has started a round of Kickstarter funding and may soon be available to purchase. The original Raspberry Shake, made by OSOP, is a professional-grade seismograph which snaps right onto Raspberry P, the popular single-board personal computer. The updated Raspberry Shake 4D can detect almost double the range of vibrations as compared to the original, and can receive quadruple the quantity of data. This allows amateur and professional geologists and seismologists alike to measure not only earthquakes, but the movement of sinkholes, the effects of fracking, and the effects of deep well waste water injection and fracking, nearby construction, traffic movements, cheering crowds at local games, and even noisy neighbors.

As with the Raspberry Shake, users can easily stream data from each unit to send updates or notifications of any Earth shakes to a phone, email or social network. Data can be forwarded to the Raspberry Shake Community Server, where it is made available for anyone in the community to visualize using a local graphical display interface and the Swarm location app. The 4D can also be paired with If This Then That (IFTTT) protocol to get instant notifications of any ground motion. In addition to the original Raspberry Shake’s geophone (which senses Earth vibrations), the 4D has added three accelerometers, which can measure the Earth’s motion in three dimensions (north-south, east-west and up-down), and a larger processor to measure a wider range of Earth motion, which makes the 4D compatible with early warning systems.

Software development for the 4D is nearly completed, and OSOP are currently raising funds through Kickstarter to complete testing and manufacture. They have already exceeded their Kickstarter goal and hope to begin shipping in September 2017. Recently, we have seen the development of home science kits that can search for new antibiotic treatments and a home wet science lab built out of Lego. In what other ways might home science, citizen science and cool gadgets be combined?