king talk

Everybody knows Pong – one of the earliest arcade video games which is simply based on the elementary idea of tennis. We decided to take this concept one step further, so Phil wrote a nice color tracker, which is capable of tracking two different hues. In this case it recognizes two different socks put over the hands of each competitor. We were using a installation made of white corrugated fiberboard found in the leftovers from Atzinger Verpackungs GmbH in Munich. The tracking cam is a second hand PS2 eye toy camera which we bought for 14,99 EUR at gamestop store just around the corner.

The well-known software we were using is processing, a programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts and visual design communities. We had to build the prototype both quickly and cheaply, so it was more important to be functionally efficient rather than aesthetically perfect. In the end the whole assembly cost us 15 EUR and took just an afternoon to build.

This pong game is in fact a mashup of the results of our 24h toyhacking session which took place on Friday, and the week-long SHARE project from Yannick Assogba  (MIT Media Lab / Sociable Media Group)

While i was trying to get some informations about the new Arduino TinkerKit development i stumbled upon this video from last years »Arduino toyhacking workshop« in London 2008 (workshop 2009 video is here). It´s just a quick overview, but you can find more detailed videos of each project here at tinker.it. The idea of toy hacking is not actually new, but I still like it. Just go home and look around what you got and then tinker it. It´s doesn´t matter if it´s a toy keyboards, RC cars, a singing Santa Claus… whatever  ; )

So if you would use a toy keyboard you could make your own »piano shirt« like the girls from kobakant did. Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson often work with soft conductive and resistive fabrics to create wearable electronics from cheap, basic and off-the-shelf materials. That´s what it´s all about… You don´t have to spend much money and time for a quick ´n´dirty prototype. You just want to tinker around trying to get an idea if your concept is working or not by using materials which you have already at hand.

Toys are just an amazing source of cheap technology to hack and reuse. »Lowtech sensors and actuators« from Husman Haque (see article about primal source) and Adam Somlai-Fisher is a great example of this approach. You can download their PDF (1,1 MB) and learn something about personalizing your toys with the help of Arduino e.g. the sound responsive cat.

One result of ours is the toyhack of the famous »Big Mouth Billy Bass« which was originally constructed by the american toy company Gemmy Industries. We thought that it´s cruel to let Billy sing his same old song again, and again, and again… So we connected a microphone to his mouth and mp3 EQ signals to his back. Now he´s enjoying his life as a karoake fish. This hack was the result of a »getting started with Arduino« Workshop at the FH Joanneum was realised with the help of Christian Perstl and Daniel Fabry.

If you have some interesting projects about toyhacking in mind, just contact us. Thanks.

… if you are owning an iPhone. Yesterday I tried the iHUDisplay app from logiware. This one is using the integrated GPS modul from the 3G to messure your speed and displayes it mirrored on your windshield.

You can fix your device by laying a rubber mat underneath your iPhone to avoid a shift. The biggest advantage of this solution is the price. For about 2,39 Euros it´s yours… ; )

Unfortunately the biggest disadvantage is the fact that the displayed data causes reflection on the glass. Admittedly this effect can be alleviated by using a ground-glass foil.