The DIY thermographer is a camera which creates an image of what temperature things are -- a 'heat' camera. We're making a 'scanning thermal imager' which means we just use a temperature sensor and sweep it back and forth across a scene, recording the temperature variation to build up an image that looks like this:

<img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5012/5413696892_1870bdcbf8.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="FLIR house" />

There are two main parts to the project: the camera itself (currently made of Legos and an <a href="http://arduino.cc">Arduino</a>, and the website, <a href="http://thermographer.publiclaboratory.org">thermographer.publiclaboratory.org</a>, which helps you create an image from your recorded temperatures. Both are under development and we don't yet have a demo to show you. Check back soon!

The camera currently uses a Melexis non-contact infrared thermometer:

* http://www.melexis.com/Sensor-ICs-Infrared-and-Optical/Infrared-Thermometers/MLX90614-615.aspx
* Datasheet: http://www.melexis.com/Assets/IR-sensor-thermometer-MLX90614-Datasheet-5152.aspx

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreywarren/5158457963/" title="These are roughly equivalent in price and functionality by jeferonix, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/5158457963_f491df1ebd.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="These are roughly equivalent in price and functionality" /></a>

(above, the first step was to 'clone' an off-the-shelf non-contact IR thermometer)

Code at: https://github.com/jywarren/thermographer