On an episode of Mr. Robot, the good guy hacks into a data-storage plant’s HVAC system and raises the temperature enough to start a fire. He does it by attaching a credit-card-size computer called a Raspberry Pi, which is a real thing that exists outside of TV, to the facility’s thermostat system. This may seem like something a bad guy would do, but the world of cybersecurity—and, frankly, the show—can be confusing.

And if you think it sounds far-fetched, you should see what researchers are working on at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology, on Virginia Tech’s Ballston campus.

“The perspective we’re taking is that you can’t build a perfectly secure system—it will be compromised at some point,” says professor Ryan Gerdes, tucking his chin-length wavy hair behind his ears amid a maze of projects in the Cyber-Physical System Security lab. The windowless facility—no bigger than an average bedroom—is crowded with screens, wires, and servers, plus more expensive stuff such as 77-GHz automotive radars (the kind that can detect collisions), waveform generators, and oscilloscopes that add up to $400,000.