Friday, 18 May 2012

MaKey MaKey: An Invention Kit for Everyone

It looks like our 2010 Christmas wish (Number 9 at SpecialEffect) is coming true at last! A truly simple D.I.Y. build your own accessible game controller kit. What massive fun, and such huge potential. 

Here's some MaKey MaKey ideas...Beach ball to play one-switch games, draw your own controls to play Pac-Man (or anything else), Banana piano keyboard, alphabetti-spaghetti keyboard, water bucket Dance Dance Revolution and Play-doh joypads.

MaKey MaKey: Banana Piano

MaKey MaKey: Pencil drawn working controller

MaKey MaKey: Alphabetti spaghetti keyboard

MaKey MaKey: Circuit Board

What particularly excites me, beyond how this could bring down the cost of accessible controls, is that it acts as a keyboard/mouse. This has me hoping that it will be possible to plug into game consoles too via an Ultimarc iPac interface. And that could change access for some forever in a positive way.

Meanwhile, I may dig out my original 1996 PSone switch interface which used crocodile clips to see if it will work in a similar way whilst waiting impatiently for MaKey MaKey to go into production. Many thanks to Tam Toucan for the link.

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