DARPA will pay you up to $130k to weaponize your household appliances

If you’ve got the technical and electrical know-how to build extreme projects that veer on the side of dangerous, than DARPA wants you go one step further and build an improvised explosive device or IED. The agency wants to learn all the possible ways that commercially available technology can be weaponized, by crowdsourcing all the ways it can be done—and its offering tens of thousands of dollars to participants who can construct the most profound prototype.

Referred to as “Improv,” the initiative defines “commercially available technology” as anything ranging from widely available consumer tech like mobile phones, toasters, and laptops; and to more domain-specific hardware like construction, salvage, and maritime tools.

With onset of the IoT, people are gaining access to a broader array of sophisticated tech, thus increasing the likelihood of threats arising from unanticipated and novel approaches. The goal is to pre-emptively understand how this can happen, thereby learning how to avoid it.

Improv encourages participation from a wide range of specialists including engineers, researchers, developers, and skilled hobbyists. Participants are allowed to reconfigure, repurpose, program and reprogram, modify, and combine components in whatever way they envision, so long as it conforms to scope of “easily procured technology.” New technology is also permissible, so long as it’s built from existing hardware.

Those interested must register before March 21, and view a webcast taking place on March 29 and 30 to discuss the project in greater detail. Eligible participants have until April 13 to submit a 2-page abstract outlining their proposed system, before DARPA selects the projects it’s most interested it. Those deemed worthy move into the next round, requiring the submission of a formal outline to receive funding. At this point, applicants are given 75-days to complete their prototypes. Prototypes that continue to pique DARPA’s interest are forwarded to the US government and the team is awarded.

Participants are eligible for a monetary reward at each phase of the program, with up to $40,000 being awarded for the feasibility study, $70,000 for the prototype constructions phase, and $20,000 for the final prototype evaluation.

Source: TNW via FBO.gov