5 ms·

Turn anything into a videogame controller, even a banana

Impossible 14y ago
Looks like a great gateway project. You can start using it to make simple custom controllers, but it's also a fully programmable Arduino with everything that comes with that. Really cool project and great price point.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
mrjd 14y ago
I think it's a great idea. They're making electronics fun and interesting which will hopefully attract people that would otherwise run a mile! Good luck guys!
debacle 14y ago
I can think of a thousand cool things you could use this for, outside of a keyboard. It takes the controller abstraction up one level, making it accessible to magnitudes more people. With this + a raspberry pi, the sky is the limit.
- jeffpersonified 14y ago
  It's interesting that both this and raspberry pi's intent are to be educational in nature. And fun at that.
K2h 14y ago
The collaboration with SparkFun (a well recognized and respected group) was a very good choice.
- verganileonardo 14y ago
  Have you worked with SparkFun before?
  - dkersten 14y ago
    No idea what they're like to work with, but I happily buy from them regularly (even though you can get a lot of the stuff slightly cheaper elsewhere).
  - K2h 14y ago
    nope, but i have a lot of respect for how they run their business. the only experience i have is when i asked them to add a product, and they were very professional.
  - follower 14y ago
    Did you have a particular reason for asking this question? :)
ahuibers 14y ago
Even though I can program an Arduino just fine, this is so low-friction that it will encourage me do short projects and experiments I otherwise might not.
vibragiel 14y ago
Just look at this banana game controller!
- Roboprog 14y ago
  Is there an accompanying karate game, so that you, like Woody Allen, can beat a man senseless with a banana? (Sleeper) Looks like a fun way to make familiar, intuitive controls for your friends.
rosstafarian 14y ago
I as a software hacker/tinkerer I have been wanting to get into hardware hacking for quite a while and this looks like a perfect starting point "kit" to play with, with the perfect price. Thank you for making the world a bit more interesting :)
nemo1618 14y ago
The first thing I thought of was CamSpace: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/control-any-game-with-your-webcam-using-camspace/ http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/control-any-game-with-your-webc... I remember using it a few years ago and it seemed pretty buggy (though maybe it was just my low quality webcam). This seems like it has a lot more potential.
tnorthcutt 14y ago
This looks awesome. That said, it seems like they already have production figured out, all the research done, etc. Why not just sell the product, instead of running a Kickstarter campaign? Is this just functioning as a pre-order, so they can make a big batch of them?
- verganileonardo 14y ago
  Big batch will make the average production cost go down. "If we raise $25,000 then we can do a large first run, which brings the retail cost down significantly, so that we can sell the kit to you for $35 (including shipping)."
- dkersten 14y ago
  Is this just functioning as a pre-order, so they can make a big batch of them? I assume a lot of the Kickstarter projects (certainly most hardware ones) are exactly that.
hsshah 14y ago
Very creative indeed. I have been using Picoboard (http://www.picocricket.com/picoboard.html http://www.picocricket.com/picoboard.html) for teaching with Scratch. This gives so many ideas for the resistance sensors. Awesome job guys. Will back you up.
tbundy 14y ago
What a delight. I look forward to playing GTA with a cheese controller.
apitaru 14y ago
This project has tremendous potential for children with special needs. I've basically had to build a similar device from scratch in 2006 as part of my ITP (NYU) thesis project [1]. This could have saved me so much time! Backing it, and hope you will too! [1] http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.067 http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262...
userdeveloper 14y ago
This is what I call "user interface". Will it be possible to modify this to work with other OS's such as BSD, GNU/Linux, Solaris, etc.?
- gorloth 14y ago
  The microcontroller being used can be setup to appear as a standard USB mouse/keyboard, so this should work with anything that supports a USB keyboard and mouse.
malkia 14y ago
I call this INPUTATION, and the device INPUTIZER!
silentscope 14y ago
banana phone???
sweetdreamerit 14y ago
using this device in interaction with a kinect could be a killer application: the kinect gives you the coordinates, the MaKey signals when the user really touch something. Everything could become a touchscreen ...

Looks like a great gateway project. You can start using it to make simple custom controllers, but it's also a fully programmable Arduino with everything that comes with that. Really cool project and great price point.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

mrjd 14y ago

I think it's a great idea. They're making electronics fun and interesting which will hopefully attract people that would otherwise run a mile! Good luck guys!

debacle 14y ago

I can think of a thousand cool things you could use this for, outside of a keyboard. It takes the controller abstraction up one level, making it accessible to magnitudes more people. With this + a raspberry pi, the sky is the limit.

jeffpersonified 14y ago
It's interesting that both this and raspberry pi's intent are to be educational in nature. And fun at that.

K2h 14y ago

The collaboration with SparkFun (a well recognized and respected group) was a very good choice.

verganileonardo 14y ago
Have you worked with SparkFun before?
- dkersten 14y ago
  No idea what they're like to work with, but I happily buy from them regularly (even though you can get a lot of the stuff slightly cheaper elsewhere).
- K2h 14y ago
  nope, but i have a lot of respect for how they run their business. the only experience i have is when i asked them to add a product, and they were very professional.
- follower 14y ago
  Did you have a particular reason for asking this question? :)

ahuibers 14y ago

Even though I can program an Arduino just fine, this is so low-friction that it will encourage me do short projects and experiments I otherwise might not.

vibragiel 14y ago

Just look at this banana game controller!

Roboprog 14y ago
Is there an accompanying karate game, so that you, like Woody Allen, can beat a man senseless with a banana? (Sleeper) Looks like a fun way to make familiar, intuitive controls for your friends.

rosstafarian 14y ago

I as a software hacker/tinkerer I have been wanting to get into hardware hacking for quite a while and this looks like a perfect starting point "kit" to play with, with the perfect price. Thank you for making the world a bit more interesting :)

nemo1618 14y ago

The first thing I thought of was CamSpace: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/control-any-game-with-your-webcam-using-camspace/ http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/control-any-game-with-your-webc... I remember using it a few years ago and it seemed pretty buggy (though maybe it was just my low quality webcam). This seems like it has a lot more potential.

tnorthcutt 14y ago

This looks awesome. That said, it seems like they already have production figured out, all the research done, etc. Why not just sell the product, instead of running a Kickstarter campaign? Is this just functioning as a pre-order, so they can make a big batch of them?

verganileonardo 14y ago
Big batch will make the average production cost go down. "If we raise $25,000 then we can do a large first run, which brings the retail cost down significantly, so that we can sell the kit to you for $35 (including shipping)."
dkersten 14y ago
Is this just functioning as a pre-order, so they can make a big batch of them? I assume a lot of the Kickstarter projects (certainly most hardware ones) are exactly that.

hsshah 14y ago

Very creative indeed. I have been using Picoboard (http://www.picocricket.com/picoboard.html http://www.picocricket.com/picoboard.html) for teaching with Scratch. This gives so many ideas for the resistance sensors. Awesome job guys. Will back you up.

tbundy 14y ago

What a delight. I look forward to playing GTA with a cheese controller.

apitaru 14y ago

This project has tremendous potential for children with special needs. I've basically had to build a similar device from scratch in 2006 as part of my ITP (NYU) thesis project [1]. This could have saved me so much time! Backing it, and hope you will too! [1] http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.067 http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262...

userdeveloper 14y ago

This is what I call "user interface". Will it be possible to modify this to work with other OS's such as BSD, GNU/Linux, Solaris, etc.?

gorloth 14y ago
The microcontroller being used can be setup to appear as a standard USB mouse/keyboard, so this should work with anything that supports a USB keyboard and mouse.

malkia 14y ago

I call this INPUTATION, and the device INPUTIZER!

silentscope 14y ago

banana phone???

sweetdreamerit 14y ago

using this device in interaction with a kinect could be a killer application: the kinect gives you the coordinates, the MaKey signals when the user really touch something. Everything could become a touchscreen ...