Wi-Fi Lobster

Wi-Fi Lobster So, with all the old news about lobster robots (see 1 and 2 below) and all the continued fun of wireless communication, I keep thinking it would be a great deal of fun (and also practically from a professional sense) to make a Wi-Fi Lobster-Bot (WiFiLoBot?).

I figure if you had antennas that could differentiate the strength of signals with high enough sensitivity (I don't know if this is currently practical) you could have your little wifi lobster whip his lobster antenna around and then travel towards a hotspot he found.

You could either associating with a hot spot or just monitoring for broadcast packets that indicated you were listening to a particular hotspot to eliminate some problems of interference - by being able to have the lobster “smell” particular signals.

So, while I keep hearing of doubtless noble toxic condition exploring lobsters with real senses of smell, I think this little lobster would have a purpose too - wireless scanning for corporations trying to figure out if the are picking up an antenna on their network, or one in the building next door. Give the lobster up and down antennas (or let him raise one) and he could tell you if it was in the ceiling above you or what not.

Now, sure, there are network side ways to do this, but they're hard to use to catch say an AP plugged into a consultant’s laptop in your conference room. And, please keep in mind, that those methods don't involve a robot lobster.

1: online: http://scicom.ucsc.edu/SciNotes/0201/lo/lobster 2: hard copy where I first read about robotic adventures: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Lobsters-Scientists-Unraveling/dp/0060555599/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206393257&sr=8-1

Posted 4 months, 4 weeks ago by NickFalcone

Tagged with: lobster lobster-bot wi-fi wireless