By now, you may have seen this video, seen it show up on one of your social media feeds, or read about it in an online article:
The 10-minute video shows how former NASA engineer created a booby-trap disguised as a delivered package that surprises porch thieves by setting off a “glitter bomb” and Fart Spray upon they open the package.
The video was posted Dec. 17 and already had more than 28 million views by late Wednesday afternoon. I’ve seen it show up seemingly everywhere online, including articles about it in major news publications.
The engineer who made the video is Mark Rober, who spent 9 years working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory—7 of which were spent working on the Curiosity Rover, which is currently on Mars. He has a popular YouTube channel that includes other science-y videos that often involve creative use of technology.
For those who don’t have time to watch the video, here’s a summary: Rober says two packages were recently stolen off his porch in broad daylight, and even though they were caught on video via home security cameras, police said it wasn’t worth their time to investigate. It got Rober thinking about how he could catch them in the act while earning revenge. Taking inspiration from Kevin McAllister from “Home Alone”, Rober and a couple of friends engineered a trap. It uses a custom-built circuit board that includes an accelerometer, which sets off a GPS tracker when moved. The circuit board is the brain inside a 3D-printed contraption embedded with four identical smartphones, which, when signaled, turn on and begin recording video in wide-angle mode so that the thief is guaranteed to be seen. The phones each have LTE data plans that upload the video footage to the cloud—guaranteeing Rober gets the video even if he doesn’t recover the package. Also nestled in the contraption is a cup that holds a pound of glitter, triggered to evenly disperse in “bomb”-fashion moments after the cellophane-wrapped Apple HomePod box top—used as a façade—is removed from its base. To top it off, a can of Fart-Spray is also triggered to spray every 30 seconds upon package opening. Rober explains all that in the video.
Robert then leaves the package on his porch, and sure enough, thief after thief after thief come and snatch it. And each time, the package trap works as intended, recording each robber and their reactions as they get bombed with glitter fart-spray. Each reaction contains language I can’t repeat here. It’s very entertaining stuff.
For an abbreviated version, watch this 2-minute ABC News report:
While entertaining and fun, the Glitter-Bomb video is also unsettling and is further evidence of just how prevalent porch thieves have become in the age of e-commerce, especially during the holiday season, as items bought as gifts arrive at gift-ers’ homes. An InsuranceQuotes study estimates that 26 million Americans have had a holiday package stolen.
And with that rise in thievery has come a rise in vigilance. After having four packages stolen in recent months, a Tacoma, WA-man is now marketing a device rigged to set off a blank 12-gauge shotgun shell the moment a robber lifts a bait package. Other customers are planting bait packages containing dog poop—and of the explosive variety in one case.
One solution to porch thieves could be the model of Amazon’s Key for its Prime customers, where the customer grants an Amazon driver access to unlock their residence door via a combination of the driver’s handheld scanner and “Cloud Cam” video installed near the door. But, that often raises privacy issues and the question if you can trust a stranger to enter your home.
My wife and I have a LOT of things delivered to our front stoop: items bought on Amazon, boxes from food preparation subscriptions, our monthly cat litter subscription box, clothes, and yes, holiday gifts. So the issue of package thievery is quite concerning to me. That’s why we installed cameras near our front and back door in November. It won’t necessarily stop a theft from happening, but it’s at least better peace-of-mind. Thankfully, we’ve never had a package stolen, probably only because we live on a high-traffic street. If thievery does ever occur, perhaps I’ll go on the offensive and add our Greyhound’s poop to our deterrents.
And on that note, I wish all our EE readers a very Merry Christmas. EE won’t have newsletters on Monday or Tuesday as our offices will be closed, but we’ll be back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 26.
Stay vigilant out there.
Have you had a package stolen from your house? How do you go about deterring porch thefts? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
