What happens to your mail? Myriad Sensors will ship thousands of sensors in global citizen science experiment to find out
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Myriad Sensors launched a first of its kind Citizen Science experiment to test what happens to packages as they are shipped through the mail. The experiment will involve hundreds of packages and millions of data points as sensors travel to people around the globe. Data will include the temperature, humidity, pressure, and orientation of the package measured every 10 minutes during the journey. Analysis of the complex system for global shipping has never before been possible at this scale, with this many parameters, and with high accuracy measurements. The experiment could also provide key insights for fragile or sensitive shipments such as wine, food, medicine, musical instruments, and electronic equipment. The data will be open source, anonymous, and anyone in the world can participate.
The shipping experiment will use the latest innovations in portable sensor electronics in two new devices currently available for pre-order on Kickstarter: PocketLab Voyager and PocketLab Weather sensors. PocketLab sensors are compact, all-in-one science labs for hands-on learning, and are used by thousands of educators, hobbyists, and citizen scientists around the world. During fulfillment of the Kickstarter units, Myriad Sensors will turn on the PocketLab sensors to collect data during the shipping process. Millions of data points will be collected on the journey from the factory in San Jose, California to shipping destinations that could be anywhere on the globe.
Kickstarter customers who receive their PocketLab Voyager or Weather sensors will be able to download the collected data. Participants can further opt in anonymously to augment their data with detailed shipping routes, photos of the delivered package, and other observations. Myriad Sensors will make all of the opt-in data available open source to anyone who would like to analyze and visualize the experiment.
PocketLab Voyager and PocketLab Weather are two new products in the award winning PocketLab line of educational sensors. Myriad Sensors is introducing these two new products on Kickstarter for pre-order, anticipating a delivery in May of 2017. The Kickstarter has already exceeded 200% of the goal and is on schedule for delivery. Myriad Sensors has a track record of designing, manufacturing, and delivering sensor products worldwide.
"What happens to your package after you put it in the mail?" asked Clifton Roozeboom, CEO of Myriad Sensors. "I don't think anybody really knows, and the best science experiments are simple questions, that no one has the answer to. That is genuine exploration and discovery."
PocketLab's Kickstarter shipping experiment is also being featured on SciStarter, a site that brings together millions of citizen scientists in the world with thousands of projects offered by researchers, organizations, and companies.
"Citizen Science has been around for ages of course, but what has changed is that technology has given today's citizen scientists amazing tools for exploration. We are excited to have PocketLab list this project on our SciStarter community, and we can't wait to see the data," said Darlene Cavalier, CEO of SciStarter. PocketLab is a perfect example of advanced technology that can be used for citizen science, it is an easy to use array of sensors in a tiny affordable package that would only have been available to researchers or large corporations just a few years ago.
Myriad Sensors CEO and COO will be hosting a Kickstarter Live stream on Tuesday, December 6th at 6 pm Pacific to talk about the experiment and answer live participant questions. Anyone can access this live event by making a user account on Kickstarter. A video of the event will be downloadable from the Kickstarter site for future reference.
Myriad Sensors, Inc website: http://www.thepocketlab.com
Kickstarter campaign for PocketLab Voyager and Weather:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/850087978/pocketlab-voyager-explore-science-in-your-world
PRLog ID: www.prlog.org/12605895
SOURCE Myriad Sensors, Inc
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