Bicycles

Grasp Lock reads your fingerprint to unlock your bike

Grasp Lock reads your fingerprint to unlock your bike
The Grasp Lock has its own fingerprint reader
The Grasp Lock has its own fingerprint reader
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Developed in partnership with Canada's University of Waterloo, the water-resistant Grasp Lock is powered by three AAA batteries that should keep it running for over a year
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Developed in partnership with Canada's University of Waterloo, the water-resistant Grasp Lock is powered by three AAA batteries that should keep it running for over a year
The Grasp Lock has its own fingerprint reader
2/3
The Grasp Lock has its own fingerprint reader
The Grasp Lock is made from hardened steel covered in soft plastic (to minimize paint scratches), and features a hinged shackle that clamps on and off in a caliper-like fashion
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The Grasp Lock is made from hardened steel covered in soft plastic (to minimize paint scratches), and features a hinged shackle that clamps on and off in a caliper-like fashion
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"Smart" bike locks may not quite be at the point where they're a dime a dozen, but there certainly are a number of them out there. That said, pretty much all of them require you to have your smartphone with you, and to make sure it's powered up when locking and unlocking. The Grasp Lock, however, is a little different. It utilizes a built-in fingerprint reader to recognize its user, so no phones, keys or combos are necessary.

Developed in partnership with Canada's University of Waterloo, the water-resistant Grasp is powered by three AAA batteries that should keep it running for over a year.

Although a smartphone isn't required to use it on a day-to-day basis, an accompanying iOS/Android app will let users know when those batteries are running low – in the event that the batteries die, the Grasp will remain locked until new ones are put in.

That app is also used to initially pair the lock with the main user's fingerprint, plus it can be utilized to add (or remove) the prints of up to 20 other users. Additionally, in the event that use of the reader simply isn't an option for whatever reason, the app can unlock the Grasp via Bluetooth.

The Grasp Lock is made from hardened steel covered in soft plastic (to minimize paint scratches), and features a hinged shackle that clamps on and off in a caliper-like fashion
The Grasp Lock is made from hardened steel covered in soft plastic (to minimize paint scratches), and features a hinged shackle that clamps on and off in a caliper-like fashion

The lock itself is made from hardened steel covered in soft plastic (to minimize paint scratches), and features a hinged shackle that clamps on and off in a caliper-like fashion. While the square cross-section of the shackle "arms" reportedly makes them harder to cut through than a traditional cylindrical shackle, it also looks like it would be impossible to thread the ends of a cable lock onto them – some cyclists like to do so with regular U-locks, so they can lock up the front wheel without removing it.

The Grasp Lock is currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, where a pledge of US$99 will get you one when and if they reach production. The planned retail price is $159.

Source: Kickstarter

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4 comments
4 comments
hawkinspeter
I don't think I'd trust this to lock up any of my bikes. The major problem with using fingerprints as an authentication device is that we leave them everywhere we go, so you'd have to be really careful to only touch your bike whilst wearing gloves.
I'm also not sure that I'd trust the App to never be hacked or reverse-engineered. I'm sure an enterprising thief could buy one of these and spend some time sniffing the communication between the App and the lock. Once they'd figured out the basics, they could just go to a train station where there's loads of locked up bikes and start brute-forcing the protocol. No-one is going to be suspicious of someone using a laptop in a train station.
Frostz
I think all authentication is moving towards biometrics. As for fingerprint technology being bad, I do not agree. Its actually takes a bit of work to properly lift a print and create a mold that a sensor can read, and with the technology being used in phones and other things, its definitely getting better and more secure. In my opinion, people who don't trust it are like people in the 1800s who didn't trust mechanical locks because they could be picked and would rather have a real person guard the door. Companies who take the risk of innovating with these technologies is the only way to push forward.
And most BTLE uses encrypted connections. All smart locks are using it and it seems to be pretty secure so far.
Stradric
Even if it takes a bit of work to lift a fingerprint (something that itself is arguable), you only have one set. Once they are compromised, you can't exactly get new fingerprints. You're trading convenience for security. It's that simple. And the clock is ticking on when someone will make available a simple process for recovering fingerprints to be used in biometric scanners.
But I think there's probably an easier way to break this lock: a jack.
unklmurray
I love the ''Naysayers''And about half of the time when you read a comment you just want to slap the writer for writing such stupidity, then you remember that they wrote it so-as to get that response from you......as for the finger print being copied,if the thief has the ability to lift your fingerprint,they aren't likely to be using it to steal bicycles!!How stupid do you think bike thieves are,there is just not that big of a market for stolen bikes,I mean why pay for a stolen bike When the bike thief will just steal the bike from you.....sell it to you for $500.00..on Monday ,steal it on Tuesday resell it to someone else on Wednesday......not likely.....there is not that big of a market for used/stolen bikes......been there done that......I have NEVER had my bike stolen, and I never will have one of my bikes get stolen!!.......LOL :-)