Civic Tech Field Guide
Sharing knowledge and productively growing the fieldThe Tech > Emerging tech > Hardware - (58)
Physical technology, such as consumer electronics, built for civic tech
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A floating glowing cloud of LED-embedded balloons that listens out for electromagnetic waves in the sky.
EFF’s Street-Level Surveillance project shines a light on the surveillance technologies that law enforcement agencies routinely deploy in our communities.
A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying
Solar Protocol
Brooklyn, NYThis website is hosted across a network of solar powered servers and is sent to you from whichever server is in the most sunshine.
Cape
Washington, DCCape is the only mobile carrier built with privacy and security at its core.
Waymo partnered with dashcam company Nexar to analyze 500 million miles of driving, including 335 crashes, to create the 'largest ever’ dataset of pedestrian and cyclist injuries
SAGA Smart Machinaka Project
Saga, JapanThe SAGA Smart Machinaka Project is a demonstration project that aims to improve the convenience of the city center of Saga City through the use of technologies such as AI and IoT, and to create a city that is easy to live in.
A a mid-century live subway map on Kickstarter
A collective effort to save and maintain Juicebox EV Chargers
Sentinel
Washington, DCConservation X Labs’ Sentinel transforms wildlife monitoring tools — like trail cameras and acoustic recorders — with revolutionary and intuitive AI technology, processing environmental data in real-time as it’s collected.
Nucleic Acid Barcode Identification Tool (NABIT)
Washington, DCThe NABIT (Nucleic Acid Barcode Identification Tool) is a low-cost, hand-held, field-ready automated tool to validate the identity of a wildlife or food product, anywhere in the world, without specialized training, equipment, reagents, or even continuous power.
Earth Fire Alliance
United States of America (the)Earth Fire Alliance is a global, community-led, non-profit coalition aligned to deliver transformative real-time data from all fires on Earth.
FireSat
United States of America (the)A new global satellite constellation designed specifically to detect and track wildfires the size of a classroom within 20 minutes.
Radiant Earth
Washington, DCIncreasing shared understanding of our world through community-led initiatives that make data easier to access and use.
Portable Network Kits
New York City, NY, USAThe Portable Network Kit (PNK) is a wireless network in a suitcase that helps people understand how to build their own mini-internet – and with it, how the internet works and might be owned and governed more equitably.
Air Quality Improvement and Monitoring
New York City6-month pilot of three pole-mounted static air quality machines
The Things Network
AmsterdamWe are a global collaborative Internet of Things ecosystem that creates networks, devices and solutions using LoRaWAN®.
NYC Smart City Testbed
New York CityThe NYC Smart City Testbed Program is inspiring innovation within City government by streamlining and accelerating the citywide process for piloting emerging technologies.
"...Open source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of designs."
AfricaOSH
AfricaThe African affiliate of the global Open Science Hardware community, plus its global summit
Indigenius
LagosIndigenius Keyboard is a smart, multilingual keyboard supporting inclusive digital communication in 180+ Languages.
U.S. Cyber Trust Mark
United States of America (the)Biden-Harris Administration Announces Cybersecurity Labeling Program for Smart Devices to Protect American Consumers
An Open Reference System for Connected Device Labeling
New York, USAConsumer Reports's add-on to the White House's "cyber trust mark" for consumer connected devices
Red Hook WiFi
Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY, USARed Hook WiFi, a project of Red Hook Initiative (RHI), is a community-led effort to close the digital divide.
MethaneSAT
United States of America (the)A better and faster way to track methane
Low-Cost Sensors and Systems for Ocean Discovery
Rhode IslandWe are creating low-cost, easy-to-use deep-sea systems that gather the most critical data to inform environmental decision-making and deployment strategies.
YAI Center for Innovation and Engagement
New York City, NY, USAYAI’s Center for Innovation and Engagement understands how technology can help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities better participate in their community.
Microsoft Adaptive Accessories
Redmond, WAAdaptable buttons and mice for everyone
The cities in this Atlas represent the vanguard of urban governments that are hosting tests, developing their own autonomous vehicle (AV) pilots, making plans and policy, and monitoring developments in AV technologies, uses, and markets.
Using integrated sensors and artificial intelligence, Livio AI enhances your listening experiences, proactively manages your health and provides access to information to simplify your life.
Voting Equipment Database
United States of America (the)Our resource for the types of voting equipment we use to cast — and count — our votes by type and vendor.
Transforming corrections with technology
Small and easily secured into any face mask, FaceBit is accompanied by a mobile application that provides a user interface and facilitates research.
MapTable
Netherlands (Nederland, Holland)A hardware table that lets people gather around it for collective decision-making processes
RapidPro
Nyaruka, Kigali, RwandaRapidPro allows you to easily design, pilot, and scale services that connect directly with a mobile phone user...without the help of a software developer.
Tablet Comunitario
Mozambique (Mocambique)Empowering rural communities with digital education
Liftware
269 E Grand Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USALiftware's selection of stabilizing and leveling handles and attachments are designed to help people with hand tremor or limited hand and arm mobility retain dignity, confidence, and independence.
Building on our previous publication of similar high-resolution population maps for 22 countries, we're now releasing new maps of the majority of the African continent, and the project will eventually map nearly the whole world’s population. Using weakly- and semi-supervised learning.
Documenting Police Tech in Our Communities
Ignis
Lincoln, NE, USAThe system attaches to a drone, and drops small incendiaries known as “dragon eggs” from a safe height, at a much lower cost and personal risk than a helicopter.
BRCK
iHub NairobiAccess the internet simply and reliably where you are. BRCK is a rugged, self powered, cloud enabled wifi hotspot router with built in fail-overs.
Soofa
24 Thorndike Street, Cambridge, MA 02141Soofa makes smart, social, and sustainable technologies for cities and communities. We’re revolutionizing the way we communicate in cities.
This is an exploratory overview of current and upcoming sources of data, processing pipelines, and data products. It is aimed at helping non-experts explore and harness the unfolding revolution of Earth observation, with an emphasis on understanding current capabilities and project development considerations.
FarmChat
India (Bhārat)Using Chatbots to Answer Farmer Queries in India
People with access to lasercutters and 3D printers are designing and fabricating face masks for front-line healthcare workers
We are working on medical devices, to have a fast and easy solution that can be reproduced and assembled locally worldwide.
Atlas AI
Palo AltoOur software measures economic and infrastructure conditions across Africa, informing how capital can be deployed to drive forward economic progress.
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Civic Tech Field Guide