Yes, it's possible to convert some of your everyday household appliances into explosives, weapons or surveillance devices.
DARPA – the agency which does research in various fields for improving the US Military and US Department of Defense capabilities – had announced a new project dubbed "Improv" to transform simple household appliances into deadly weapons i.e. homemade weapons.
In previous years, various military grade weapons had been found malfunctioned by the ordinary household things that could cripple the military inventions.
By various incidents happening around the Military grounds, officials observed that "how easily-accessed hardware, software, processes, and methods could be used to create products or systems that could pose a future threat."
So, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) proceeded with a program and is seeking proposals from engineers, skilled hardware hackers, biologists and information technologists, who can come up with some innovative ideas to build a deadly system or devices by unleashing the power of everyday things.
Improv - Initiative to Build Weaponised Capabilities into Home Appliances
Improv program will carry out research on the systems and devices of the readily available technology that could threaten the national security by challenging the current military equipment.
"Improv will explore ways to combine or convert commercially available products such as off-the-shelf electronics, components created through rapid prototyping, and open-source code to cost-effectively create sophisticated military technologies and capabilities," said John Main, Improv's Program Manager.
The program's prime aim is to build capabilities of a weaponized device in normal household things.
Open Challenge!
Improv would undergo 3 Phases to finalize the proposed system:
Phase 1: Submit plans for off-the-shelf prototype and if selected, candidates would be rewarded with $40,000.
Phase 2: The second round of the program requires selected candidates to bring proposed prototype model into real world system for which DARPA will fund $70,000.
Phase 3: The final stage is for a live demonstration with up to $20,000 for testing.
The Candidates have to complete this task with a strict deadline of 90 days as per Rules of DARPA.
Improv understands the fact that no one can be a Jack of all trades. Hence, there are no exclusions for anyone to give his or her try, which could really save the world from the potential dangers, unlike "Hack the Pentagon" program which was opened only for US Nationals.
Nowadays many mushrooming methods are evolved to manipulate the legit systems, which is a nightmare for millions and a daydream for criminals.
So, Improv would be seen as a new dimension to the US Military Defense to tackle the risky attacks.
