(glass shatters)
- [Mark Rober] This guy stole a package from my car,
and a different guy stole my package from a porch,
and he's about to open it in his car.
- Hello.
(glitter bomb pops) (record spins)
- But what he doesn't realize is
this is the fourth generation
of a new and improved custom-built bait package
that is recording him on four phones
and just released a pound of the world's finest glitter.
And he's about to discover the other five new surprises
for this year.
Now I know what you're thinking.
"Isn't it a bit excessive to spend
the last four years of your life trying to engineer
the perfect revenge for porch pirates
just 'cause someone stole your package a few years ago
and the police wouldn't do anything about it?"
And to that, I say no.
And I'm gonna keep doing it every Christmas
until we can make a dent in the 2 million packages
that are stolen from porches every year.
Plus, it's become such a delightful engineering challenge
for me to try and think of all the different ways
that we can upgrade it each year.
And so with that, this is Glitter Bomb 4.0.
(car horn blaring)
And that is the first of five major upgrades this year.
The lid shoots off as soon as the package thief
tries to open it.
Our original design to pull this off was a flywheel
that spun up at irresponsibly dangerous speeds.
Then we lowered these wheels to make contact
with the flywheel, and they shared an axle with the gear,
which then used a rack and pinion to launch the lid.
But that was just way too over-engineered,
even for my lofty over-engineering standards.
So that's when we pivoted to a pneumatic system.
But space is limited in the box,
so we had to custom design these aluminum pressure intakes
with a little help from my friends at Protolabs.
They hooked me up and made six of these in like two days,
which was why they're mine and your best friend
for quick turnaround machine parts like this.
So the tank is filled with air pressurized to 80 psi,
and it's nestled here in the base.
And then with the top half on,
this hall effect sensor right here can sense a magnet
attached to the lid.
So when the lid is lifted, it triggers the air
to rush into the pistons,
and the boxing gloves do the rest.
And the second major improvement is this car horn,
'cause that just feels like it's gonna make things
more exciting for everyone.
So when the lid first pops off-
(car horn blaring)
It actually sounds a little bit more like that.
And the third upgrade is the design
of the glitter cup itself.
This year, instead of an open cup like this
that spins all the glitter out in one shot,
we have a two-chambered cup like this,
which means we get to fire the glitter three separate times.
So the way it works is you pour glitter
in the top chamber here, and it fills up both chambers.
And when the cup spins, the glitter in the lower chamber
flies up and out the sides,
but the glitter in the upper chamber is trapped
due to the centrifugal force.
Then when the cup stops spinning,
gravity basically loads the next batch of glitter
in the lower chamber for us.
And so now of course it's ready to fly out
on the next spin and so on.
This totally passive solution means
we get to save one of our three glitter fires this year
for when we get to the end
of the out loud countdown sequence.
- [Robotic Voice] One.
(motor whirring)
- [Mark] Now of course you'll still see
the standard four phones here that record the thief
in all directions and upload the footage to the cloud,
as well as these four canisters
filled with 20% more fart spray
of legitimately the worst smell you could possibly imagine,
as demonstrated by the time
I almost killed Macaulay Culkin himself.
- (coughs) I can still smell it.
(Macaulay chokes)
- [Mark] The fourth upgrade is we have
a dedicated onboard microphone to record continuous audio
once the package is stolen,
and the fifth is this outer casing is now made from
this opaque machined acrylic.
That means the entire glitter bomb now glows much brighter
to light up the scene if it's opened in the dark,
and it just looks really dope
when the whole box pulses red and blue
as we play the fake police scanner chatter
a few minutes after being opened-
(police radio chattering)
- To further encourage the thief
to get rid of the box so we can recover it.
And then the final upgrade for this year
isn't actually on the glitter bomb itself.
Last year we developed these doormats
that would covertly charge the box on these contacts
so it would be at full battery whenever it got stolen.
And that was fantastic, but a lot of boxes
were being taken at night,
which was leading to footage that just wasn't that great.
So to solve for that this year,
we designed these planter boxes,
and when the sun goes down, the side raises up,
and they autonomously slide over
to swallow up the glitter bomb,
concealing it from any would-be thieves in the night
without the homeowner needing to hassle with
bringing it in and out every day.
Then of course in the morning,
the process reverses and the box is ready to go.
So now when the bad guy comes sneaking by in the day
and steals it off the porch,
the batteries are all at 100% charge,
and the box knows it's no longer on the mat,
so it starts recording and uploading footage to the cloud,
in addition to texting us that it's been stolen
and sending GPS location updates.
And so if you compare glitter bomb 1.0 through 4.0,
you can really see the design evolution.
And while my lawyers have already made it very clear
that I am not allowed to sell this,
if I did, it might look something like this.
- [Announcer] Glitter Bomb 4.0
is our most advanced glitter bomb ever.
Beautiful, complex, yet simple.
A sleek and porch-informed design,
now includes a car horn from a Toyota Corolla
and 20% more fart spray.
A completely redesigned multi-spray glitter cup
with a pound of our finest biodegradable glitter
means your porch pirate will remember this moment
for a very long time,
but especially in direct sunlight.
Oh, and there is one more thing.
Introducing the world's first self-launching lid.
(epic orchestral music)
Glitter Bomb 4.0.
(epic orchestral music)
Because sometimes revenge is a dish best served fabulously.
(epic orchestral music)
- So there it is.
And while you can't buy Glitter Bomb 4.0,
if you wanna support more efforts like this,
you can rock this stylish
wire frame Glitter Bomb hoodie here,
or we've also got this cool retro pop art version for 4.0
with the boxing gloves,
available, of course, only at markrober.com.
And so now all that was left to do
was to put it out on porches all across America and wait.
And we didn't have to wait long.
(playful music)
Wait a sec. Is that who I think it is?
And sure enough, Fort Knuts had run out of walnuts,
so instead of trying to make an honest squirrel's living,
Fat Gus had apparently turned to a life of crime.
And speaking of which, I'd like to quickly point out
that whether squirrels are stealing your bird seeds
so you build them an obstacle course,
or humans are stealing your packages
so you go full "Home Alone,"
the beauty about being an engineer
is you can come up with clever solutions
for your real-life challenges.
(bell dings)
It's like a superpower, but a superpower you can learn,
and I'd love to see other people catch that spark.
Which is why a few times a year
I teach a month-long creative engineering course,
and enrollment for the New Year's session is open
starting right now.
Over the course of a month,
you're gonna watch me design and create
three builds from scratch.
But the best part is I'm gonna guide you through finishing
three creative builds of your own.
So whether you're a complete beginner
or an experienced engineer,
the class has been designed to meet you wherever you're at
and level up your skills.
Just go to monthly.com/markrober,
or use the link in the video description,
then go sign up as a New Year's resolution goal,
and let's hang out making some cool stuff.
And now for the sparkly karma.
(color bar beeps)
(car horn blares)
(motor whirring)
(cartoon voice laughs)
(motor whirring)
So he hides it under some clothes,
and a few minutes later he brings in a consultant.
(beep)
- [Thief 1] It's a tracking device!
- [Thief 2] Oh, no, no, no, no!
- [Thief 1] And it smells like (beep).
- [Thief 2] What do we do?
What do we do? What do we do?
What do we do?
(motor whirring)
(color bar beeps)
(car horn blares)
(motor whirring)
- [Gangster] Keep the change, you filthy animal.
- [Mark] This guy wins the award
for our most contemplative thief ever.
(motor whirring)
I've sped this footage up to double time.
So we help to make up his mind
with a third round of glitter, fart spray,
and then the countdown.
(motor whirring)
- [Robotic Voice] 15, 14-
(color bar beeps)
- [Mark] And as if stealing a glitter bomb
wasn't a bad enough choice already,
this guy doubles down and decides to open it in his car.
(motor whirring)
(cartoon voice laughs)
- [Thief] (beep).
(beep), man.
(motor whirring)
(car horn blares)
(motor whirring)
- [Robotic Voice] Fifteen, fourteen.
Three, two, one.
(package clatters)
- [Mark] And it's worth mentioning, of course,
we have to make multiple glitter bombs,
because sometimes they do take a beating.
(color bar beeps) (cartoon voice laughs)
And yet they battle through the pain like champs.
(motor whirring)
(color bar beeps)
- [Thief 1] Look what I found!
- [Thief 2] Did they see you take it?
- [Thief 1] Nobody saw me.
- [Thief 2] Like Harry and Marv.
- [Mark] And they're referring to our dead giveaway
shipping label here, with Harry and Marv on Wet Bandit Way.
- [Thief 1] I feel bad, but I really wanna open it. (laughs)
- [Thief 2] I say you flip a coin.
Heads you keep it.
- [Mark] And apparently they landed heads,
'cause a few hours later, this happened.
(car horn blares)
(motor whirring)
(cartoon voice laughs)
- [Thief 1] What the (beep)?
(motor whirring)
(color bar beeps)
- [Mark] This guy stole it and took it
straight to a pawn shop to try and negotiate a deal.
- [Thief] 500.
- [Pawnbroker] No, I told you 400.
- [Thief] No, give me one more hundred and we're good.
- No. - One more hundred.
This thing is brand new, (beep). Come on.
- [Pawnbroker] The wrapping looks kind of weird.
- [Thief] No, they're 2021.
- [Pawnbroker] Let me open it and see if
it's just in there first.
- [Thief] One more hundred, (beep).
One more hundred. - Can I open it?
- [Thief] Yeah, go ahead.
(car horn blares)
- What the (beep)?
(motor whirring)
(cartoon voice laughs)
- [Mark] And this one's hilarious to me,
'cause if he wouldn't have got greedy,
he could have walked out of there with 400 bucks.
- [Woman] It's a bomb.
Yeah, yeah. Put it outside!
(motor whirring)
- [Robotic Voice] Fifteen, fourteen-
- [Mark] And instead, he gets zero dollars
and a bedazzled jacket.
- [Robotic Voice] Detonation imminent.
(color bar beeps)
- [Thief 1] Oh my God, look it.
(car horn blaring)
(motor whirring)
(cartoon voice laughs)
- [Thief 2] Maybe they put a thing on there
so it went off.
- [Thief 1] Did you see and hear that?
(motor whirring)
- [Thief 2] Put it back down.
- [Thief 1] Really?
- [Thief 2] Each time, more (beep) comes out.
- [Thief 1] It stinks too.
- [Thief 2] Oh (beep), babe.
Look at how full it is.
(motor whirring)
(color bar beeps)
(car horn blares)
(motor whirring)
(cartoon voice laughs)
- Oh. (laughs)
It's a trick.
Someone fooled you.
(motor whirring)
- Oh!
Ugh, it stinks!
- Move.
- [Woman] Go throw it away.
- Oh, (beep).
Smells like (beep).
No!
(motor whirring)
- [Mark] They eventually threw it away,
and then went the extra mile to help us rinse off
all the glitter.
(speaker screeches)
Followed up with a light dusting.
(broom thuds)
(color bar beeps)
Last year, if you might recall, we went up to San Francisco,
a.k.a. the car break-in capital of the world,
and got a glitter bomb taken in a matter of minutes.
And while we never got them to actually open the box,
it did have an interesting conclusion.
- [Thief] I could bang it.
I could bang-
(alarm blaring)
(static crackles) (color bar beeps)
- [Mark] So this year, naturally, we went back,
and at the end of day one, we had no takers.
But then we stopped for like two minutes
to get some snacks for the trip home,
and when we came back to the car, we saw this.
They took the backpack with the GoPros
but left the freaking glitter bomb.
So now it was definitely on.
So we went back to that exact spot the next day,
and within 10 minutes, this happened.
(window shatters)
And you could see here just how quickly they work.
- [Thief 1] Put that in the back, bro.
- [Mark] You can literally hear them doing
another smash and grab here,
not four minutes after they smashed our window.
- [Thief 1] Come on, come on, come on, come on!
(beep), hurry up!
Let's go! - Yo, my car!
Yo, what the (beep)?!
Yo, (beep)!
- [Mark] And unfortunately, in all the jostling
of stolen goods, the glitter bomb had a false trigger-
(car horn blares)
(motor whirring)
- [Thief 1] What was that?
- [Mark] And they were onto us.
- [Thief 2] That (beep) has a light, (beep)!
- [Thief 1] What you talking about, boss?
- [Thief 2] Look, (beep).
Yo, what the (beep) is that?
Throw that out, baby.
- [Thief 1] Hell nah.
- So if we're keeping track at home,
that's car thieves with three points and me with zero,
without a single ounce of glitter being fired.
Now I'm not proud of that,
but there is a silver lining here,
because the police rolled up on us after this break-in,
and let's just say they are both familiar with,
and fans of, the work being done here.
In fact, they were actually tracking the guys
that smashed our window, but then they lost them.
So next year I'll be joining forces with them
in some capacity, and I'm given a Mark Rober guarantee
that I'm gonna get some points on the board,
and perhaps uncover how these guys run their whole operation
in the process.
So make sure you're subscribed if you don't wanna miss that.
But it wasn't just the police who'd heard about
the glitter bomb this year.
Just like before, we also put some glitter bombs
by a few group mailboxes,
and I'm happy to report the overwhelming majority of people
do the right thing and either don't take it
or even go out of their way like this nice lady.
In fact, they were stolen approximately half as often
as last year,
so either people are getting more honest,
or perhaps, I don't know,
enough people have seen these videos
that it's the devastating power of glitter
that's encouraging more civil behavior.
And I'll just leave you with two pieces of evidence
that kind of seem to support this working theory.
(color bar beeps)
- [Thief 1] I was lucky.
That's a lucky steal right there, man.
Best that money can buy.
(car horn blares)
- [Thief 2] Oh, (beep).
(motor whirring)
Oh, you son of a (beep).
- [Thief 1] Oh, it's one of those gifts?
- [Thief 2] Oh, wow.
I seen that on TV, man.
- [Thief 1] What's it do?
- [Thief 2] Put that top back on.
- [Thief 1] Why?
(motor whirring)
- [Thief 2] The glitter that he showed on TV
was that sticky kind.
That's what you get for taking people's stuff
from in front of their house.
God, right in my house. (beep)
That thing has a tracer on it too.
The cops are gonna be right outside.
(color bar beeps)
- [Thief] Then I'm wondering if it's one
of those (beep) package thief things
that spay out fart glitter.
If this thing is gonna start talking
and five, four, three, two, one.
(car horn blares) Oh my god!
It is!
(motor whirring)
- [Mark] So just don't steal packages, 'cause it's not nice.
But if you do need some extra incentive,
just know you might be opening next year's glitter bomb.
- [Thief] It is one of those glitter bombs.
And it has fart smell and everything.
- [Mark] And trust me, you don't wanna meet version 5.0.
(motor whirring)
(tense music)