SparkFun’s Prototype HARP Will Put Your Puzzle-Solving Hacking Skills to the Test

SparkFun’s Prototype HARP (Hardware Alternate Reality Puzzle) is an electronics puzzle the company states is “an escape room on a board.” You won’t find a lot of technical details here on what HARP packs regarding hardware, or software for that matter. SparkFun designed it that way, and it’s up to you to figure it out. The Room Escape Artist provides a more accurate description of the board saying, “it’s a mysterious board containing an artificial intelligence and a dark secret.”

Perhaps a clue about how to solve the puzzle comes from the platform’s SP250Ψ NPU (Neuromorphic Processing Unit), which is designed to handle IA (Intelligence Augmentation) functions. Whereas AI is the endeavor to bring human-like intelligence to machines, IA uses forms of information technology for augmented awareness applications. More specifically, the NPU exploits instruction-level parallelism- or how many instructions in a computer program can be executed simultaneously.

The Project HARP appears to be outfitted with a micro SD card slot, an LED, DIP-8 socket, USB port, power switch, and a PCB antenna. A debug interface (9600bps) is also available, and SparkFun recommends a good terminal program such as Tera Term for PC and CoolTerm for Mac owners. Besides the board, the puzzle comes equipped with a micro SD card, a cable, and access to datasheets for the SP250Ψ.

“To solve the puzzle you’ll need a basic set of electronics and cryptography skills — or a couple of nerdy friends. As you make your way through you’ll uncover the story of a failed project and the truth about what’s really going on at Spark X.”

SparkFun is currently crowdfunding their Project HARP puzzle on GroupGets for $50, plus shipping.