Kristen Baumlier

I’ve been keeping my eye out for interesting projects on Kickstarter recently.  I am going to be starting a campaign for my new project Food Font next month on Kickstarter – so I have been watching the sites for interesting projects, and watching successful projects.

One great project that I backed this month is called MaKey Makey, which is a project which the makers call, “ an invention kit for everyone.”  With the  MaKey MaKey electronic device you can turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It is meant to be an invention kit for beginners and experts doing art, engineering, and anything in between:

To use the device you load up a computer program, webpage, or game.  You hook up the MaKey MaKey to something like a banana or playdough – and the banana or playdough becomes the mouse or joystick.

An example of how it can work that they describe on the website is, “Let’s say you load up a piano program. Then, instead of using the computer keyboard buttons to play the piano, you can hook up the MaKey MaKey to something fun, like bananas, and the bananas become your piano keys.”

You can play Pacman or type an email with your finger, pencil, or a custom alphabet soup keyboard.

MaKey MaKey works by clipping alligator clips to other objects, and the signal is sent back to the device and to the computer.  The creators behind the project have done some workshops with the device  at a conference with some grad students and other groups.  Someone made a beachball into a controller.  Someone else used playdough to make a unique keyboard.

MaKey MaKey works with any laptop or computer with a USB port and a recent operating system. The project is meant to support the Make Movement – to get others to think of themselves as makers or inventors, and to change the world.

The money that they have raised on Kickstarter will be used to help fund doing a large run of making the devices.  The great thing about their Kickstarter campaign is that if you donate $35 – you get a MaKey MaKey device.

The devices will be made at Sparkfun., which is a unique partner.  Sparkfun makes safe, environmentally responsible (RoHS compliant) circuit boards. They are located in the USA (in Boulder, CO), and they treat their employees well. Workers are paid a generous wage with benefits, can bring their dogs to work, listen to music while they work, etc. It The creators of MaKey Makey write, “ That may sound like it should be “normal”, but in the world of circuit production it is very rare and there are lots of sad working conditions elsewhere. Also, Sparkfun is the world’s largest manufacturer of Open Source Hardware, which is critical to MaKey MaKey, an all Open Source Hardware project.”

The Kickstarter campaign closes on June 12 – but you will still be able to order the device afterwards on the MaKey MaKey website.  I can’t wait until mine comes. I will be posting with a playdough keyboard and banana mouse.

Image Source:
www.makeymakey.com

Links:

http://www.makeymakey.com/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joylabs/makey-makey-an-invention-kit-for-everyone