Open Source Tricorder Is In It For The Science
PeterAJansen has developed the Open Source Science Tricorder Cyberdeck, a handheld device designed for practical scientific analysis rather than mere aesthetic replication of Star Trek props. The device integrates a variety of sensors, including a scintillation crystal for radiation detection, a visible light spectrometer, and environmental monitors for temperature and air quality. Built around a Clockwork Pi uConsole, the project is fully open source, with assembly instructions and operational videos available on its GitHub repository.
- ▪The device features a scintillation crystal for spectroscopic analysis of beta- or gamma-ray sources.
- ▪It includes a visible light spectrometer, thermal camera, magnetic field camera, and standard environmental sensors.
- ▪The hardware is based on a Clockwork Pi uConsole equipped with a Compute Module 5 for data processing.
- ▪The project is open source, with all necessary details for construction available on a public GitHub repository.
- ▪This iteration prioritizes scientific utility over the screen-accurate design of previous tricorder projects.
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| Original publisher | Hackaday |
| Canonical URL | https://hackaday.com/2026/09/30/open-source-tricorder-is-in-it-for-the-science/ |
| Publication time | Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:00:23 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-30T20:02:01.724Z |
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Open Source Tricorder Is In It For The Science No comments by: Tyler August September 30, 2026 Title: Copy Short Link: Copy If you’re reading Hackaday there’s pretty good odds you’re at least somewhat fond of Star Trek. We’d bet good money most of you would quit your jobs today if a Starfleet recruiter showed up. That’s something you’d have in common with [PeterAJansen], who has been working for over a decade now to create something worthy of being called a tricorder. If his latest iteration, the Open Source Science Tricorder Cyberdeck, isn’t there yet, it’s pretty darn close. Frankly, it looks more usable than Roddenberry’s version. The “tri” in tricorder means three, but this device has more than three instruments– so did the ones on the show, come to think of it.
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