Ever wanted to play Pac Man with a pencil drawn controller or play the piano with bananas? Yes, you can, thanks to Makey Makey, a simple circuit board that turns almost any object into a touch based computer key. Currently being funded at KickStarter, it is by far one of the coolest DIY project I have ever seen.
Makey Makey plugs into a computer via USB and lets users connect the arrow keys, space bar and left mouse click to physical objects. Just connect one end of a wire to the circuit board using crocodile clips and the other end to any electrically conductive object such as bananas, pencil graphite, paint, silverware and cats. Touching the object simulates a key press which is fed to the computer via the USB port. For sensing closed switches on the input pins, high resistance switching is used so you can close a switch even through highly resistive materials like your skin, leaves, and play-doh.
Since no additional software is required MaKey MaKey works with all programs and webpages that accepts keyboard and mouse input.
MaKey MaKey has been used to play piano with bananas,
Pac Man with a pencil drawn controller
custom-made alphabet soup keyboard and many more.
If you want this, you can pledge $35 and get the kit delivered to you anywhere in the US. International destination costs an additional $10. The kit includes the MaKey MaKey, Alligator Clips, and USB Cable.
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