Description

The general concept behind the game controller I made, Chikin, is the Chicken Dance; more specifically, the dance moves of the Chicken Dance. This dance has three main moves: arms raised, arms flapping as wings, and a body shake from left to right. Hence, I modeled my game controller mechanics after being able to emulate these dance moves.

To start, I decided to use a hoodie as the main structure for my controller because I thought that its general structure would allow me to sense the body fully. More specifically, a hoodie provides full body coverage, such as its long sleeves, which allows me to create a controller that utilizes the necessary body parts for my concept. Also, the hoodie provided a hood, which allowed me to create relevant visuals for my concept. Next, the problem I had to figure out was how to map the controls using a hoodie to match the Chicken Dance. The inspiration came to me after seeing Professor Olivia Prior’s tilt sensor in class; the sensor’s conductive string (ground) would follow its tilted direction, hitting the respective input sensor. After seeing the tilted sensor, I thought I could use it to trigger the sensors on my hoodie from the dance’s innately exaggerated moves, such as flapping the arms and shaking the body from left to right. Lastly, similar to the tilt sensor, I added multiple conductive strings as my ground and used the movement of my body to hit the input sensors, activating their respective digital switch key. 

My game controller rests with the person standing and their elbows up to their chest like a chicken. To trigger the left and right arrow keys, the person would flap the respective arm. To trigger the up arrow key, the person would raise their arm around the head level. Lastly, to trigger the down arrow key, the person would shake their body from left to right. Each of these movements would make the conductive string move and hit its input sensor, triggering the respective arrow key. 

Circuit Diagram:

More Photos:

Code:

https://github.com/hullohi/Assignment1.git

Video of controller:

Dance Reference:

This is the dance my device is inspired by. The mechanics of my controller follows its dance moves.