Palm scanner bio-metric authentication to turn on PC

[ChaosJ]

Heylo fellow nerds!  So, i've been looking at building a custom desk and an uber cool room. so i spent yesterday teaching myself arduino and circuitry and stuff. basically im building a desk computer, what i want to do is build a cool palm scanner (ideally a cool looking palm scanner but i will settle for a fingerprint scanner :'( ). The crux is that your system only turns on if the bio-metrics are a match. there will be no hardware button to turn on the PC (well maybe a hidden fail safe).

 

Therefore my questions:

1. Is there an arduino compatible palm scanner out there? or can i re-jig a regular one to work with arduino? (same applies for fingerprint sensor, can I re-jib a usb sensor to work with arduino)

2. will the arduino be able to start the computer like that?

3. Can i also turn this into a system unlock mechanism instead of a regular password ( will keep the manual password as a backup) so i can unlock my system? (i am asking because as far as i know, windows doesn't accept any bio-metric inputs so don't know if i can use it specifically as a system password)

 

Thanks in advance

[djneo]

Don't now if palm scanners are a real thing to be ownest 

 

but there are some cheap arduino compatible finger print scanners on AliExpress

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/biometric-reader/954287680.html

 

 

for 2 , yes you could with the use of correct electronics (a transistor and some resistors) connect the pc powerpins

and for 3. you could make the arduibo emulate a keyboard and let it type your password

[ChaosJ]

7 minutes ago, djneo said:

Don't now if palm scanners are a real thing to be ownest 

 

but there are some cheap arduino compatible finger print scanners on AliExpress

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/biometric-reader/954287680.html

 

 

for 2 , yes you could with the use of correct electronics (a transistor and some resistors) connect the pc powerpins

and for 3. you could make the arduibo emulate a keyboard and let it type your password

hmm, that's a nice piece of logic. Input a password upon verification of the bio-metric input. I could live with that as a work around.!! 

 

for 2. let me extend my question... the connection and powering on will work fine, however how would i ensure that the sensor wont complete the circuit when I use the fingerprint scanner again. the arduino would have to read the computer and know if the system was on or off and if on, then not hit the power button even if i used the scanner. additionally it would have to know when to input the password as an emulated keyboard and then deactivate the emulation till the system was locked (it would need some kind of input to know this). so im a little overwhelmed by the combinations. are my assumptions correct? is there a way to do this?

[unknownmiscreant]

Get an arduino based off the atmega 32U4 (the one which can emulate usb devices) to use for entering your password and connect it to the power switch and led of the motherboard. I would recommend a relay rather than transistors, as then you do not need to worry about ground reference issues etc. An optocoupler may be useful for the power led.

 

You should be able to write some fairly basic code to run on the computer and talk to the arduino to let it know system status (screen lock etc) via an FTDI cable or something.

 

Not sure what exactly exists in the way of arduino compatible fingerprint scanners. Almost certainly not palm scanners. AFAIK they are only used in really high security systems. Not sure what exactly is on your computer thats so important, but I'd point you towards a padlock for your door. .

[ChaosJ]

4 minutes ago, unknownmiscreant said:

Get an arduino based off the atmega 32U4 (the one which can emulate usb devices) to use for entering your password and connect it to the power switch and led of the motherboard. I would recommend a relay rather than transistors, as then you do not need to worry about ground reference issues etc. An optocoupler may be useful for the power led.

 

You should be able to write some fairly basic code to run on the computer and talk to the arduino to let it know system status (screen lock etc) via an FTDI cable or something.

 

Not sure what exactly exists in the way of arduino compatible fingerprint scanners. Almost certainly not palm scanners. AFAIK they are only used in really high security systems. Not sure what exactly is on your computer thats so important, but I'd point you towards a padlock for your door. .

Haha, its just a fun experiment. Its not really for security, i just want to increase the 'Cool' factor of my computer, absolutely nothing of value on it  except video games. And i think a fingerprint based power or unlock will be cool :D. 

 

Correct me if i am wrong, I only started learning about arduino 48 hours ago. I ordered one, had it delivered yesterday and built a few simple programs, but dont all arduino unos have the same architecture (i think its ATmega16U2) when i searched for the chip you mentioned it only through up arduino nanos.  

 

also, i did find an arduino uno labelled as 'ATmega328P ATmega16U2' so im a little confused about the achitectures and what they do.

[unknownmiscreant]

The differences between them are down to the chip that is used on the arduino board. You can look up the spec sheets if you care. But be prepared to 300 pages of gobbledegook.

 

The atmega 328p is (i think) currently the most common. However the 32U4 is quite new, so only found on the newer boards, but looks like it will eventually take over. The spark fun pro micro and the arduino leonardo (I think) are both 32u4 boards.

 

I considered doing something like this a few times, but could never quite justify the money for the cool factor. .

 

Fingerprint implementation might be quite hard, as you will need a module that can store and compare fingerprints on board. Such a thing may not be available... If so, a NFC tag may be the next best thing. If you want to be ultra badass, you could implant one into your finger, and unlock your computer with that, lol.

[ChaosJ]

1 hour ago, unknownmiscreant said:

The differences between them are down to the chip that is used on the arduino board. You can look up the spec sheets if you care. But be prepared to 300 pages of gobbledegook.

 

The atmega 328p is (i think) currently the most common. However the 32U4 is quite new, so only found on the newer boards, but looks like it will eventually take over. The spark fun pro micro and the arduino leonardo (I think) are both 32u4 boards.

 

I considered doing something like this a few times, but could never quite justify the money for the cool factor. .

 

Fingerprint implementation might be quite hard, as you will need a module that can store and compare fingerprints on board. Such a thing may not be available... If so, a NFC tag may be the next best thing. If you want to be ultra badass, you could implant one into your finger, and unlock your computer with that, lol.

NFC? that could work well. I could just make my phone the key. or a card.

[Hackentosher]

Why not just use a finger print like many modern laptops? Mine has a very fast finger print reader, it's great with windows hello. 

[ChaosJ]

3 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

Why not just use a finger print like many modern laptops? Mine has a very fast finger print reader, it's great with windows hello. 

I could use a finger print, just thought a palm scanner would be fun  but whoops

[unknownmiscreant]

20 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

Why not just use a finger print like many modern laptops? Mine has a very fast finger print reader, it's great with windows hello. 

Half of the speed is down to the windows hello algorithm. Idk for sure, but since windows hello requires a working TPM, the fingerprint scanner most likely sends the data to windows which then handles the processing and verification. Having fast scanner hardware will speed it up though.

 

Interfacing USB devices (ie using an arduino as a USB host) is fairly involved, I probably wouldn't recommend it as a first project. Writing a biometric verification algorithm is no small feat either. You will want to find a scanner that handles all the verification and storage on board. A quick google dug up this:

 

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13007

 

There also might be an adafruit version.

 

As another question, what motherboard do you have?