a interface project 2007. marc grimm rebuilds a controller and put it into a jacket. selfmade acceleration sensors give the direction and the wireless technology the feeling “to fly”.

enjoy the trip!

welcome to the “kleider machen piloten” project.

here you can inform you how to “INTERFACE YOURSELF” or your clothes. in this case i took a usual jacket to controle a playstation1  game ACE COMBAT 3 but it´s also possible to controle a gameboy with your boxershorts but we want to start slowly and easely for everybody who dont ever “interfaced” himself.

to start with the your “interface yourself” workshop we need a idea. that´s unfortunately the most difficult point for a lot of people so let me give you a clue and take a simple computergame. its very easy to modify a mario jump and run but it´s also nice to rebuild a flightsimulator.

ok! now we have the system and the software so let´s rip it off. in this example we need:

thrustmaster gamepad - prefer wireless because of less cables and a low internal power suply. that safes you to damage the whole gaming system and the circuits in the controller i you make a solding mistake. ( dreamcast is not very solding friendly there are constandly 5V - RestInPeace my dears ).keep off analogue sticks. they work with magnetic contacts so its only for advanced peolple.

playstation 1 - prefer the first version because its absolutly no collecting object - its cheap on ebay and easy to open if it neccesary.

an old jacket - it looks cool if its camouflage but dont give a damn...take any you like.

now we have the needed hardware but one things missing. the sensors! how we want to send any signal to the controller? thats the last point to solve. in my case i decided to take three tubes with solid bearing balls ( which are used in axle-bearing ). but you can take EVERY possibility to close a circuit.

bearing balls - it very IMPORTANT to take stainless steel balls so if they oxygating you cant close the contact and your sensor will be a contactspray eating monster. believe!

hosepipe - it has to be as thick as the bearing balls..the best would be 2 mm more than the ball thats it has some space to move.

 

HDD cable - for soldering. it is a good and thin cable and very low on oxyd so you get the highest and best contacts.

and last but not least the whole rest of geek-nurd tools you have. soldering station, cable, screwdrivers etc etc etc. you dont have? mothers kitchen does have the most tools you need. just use your imagination.

now we start opening the hardware and modify it:

the controller - just open it ( if you dont know how to visit www.howtouseascrewdriver.com ) and watch out for the nice contacts which are usually used for the direction ingame by pressing. these contacts are digital and work only with a simple ON or OFF. that minus and plus pole is the source we have to solder with th goody HDD cable. every direction has one contact so we need 2 cable ( minus and plus ).

now we should soldered all direction contacts ( 8 cables ) and now we look for the contacts we need to shot or to jump. same procedure. solder each with 2 cables.

ok! next step. lets close the thrustmaster again www.howtouseascrewdriver.com and let missing the plastic stuff we dont need anymore.

now we can build our damnit cool own acceleration sensors!! we need 4 directions. its like in the usual controller usage. up down left right. in this case i decided to put two direction in one tube and the other 2 into its own tube. because in a jacket, when you are flying you cant fly left and right in the same time so it cant irritate each other. to keep up and down seperate it has another reason. i want that the person hast to strech his arms like wings to fly. the sensors will be integrated in the end of the jacket arms so cheating is not possible.

shorten the tube on 12-15cm and put two hard wires in one end of the tube so the bearing ball can touch both at once and close the contact. the two hard wires HAS TO be affixed that the possition stay and still the same. fix it with rubber band. now we can use the left buttons out of the controller to close one open site. ready is your own accleration sensor!

the next step will be to connect the sensors with the soldered contacts from the controller in put it into the jacket. thats the worst part of the”game” because you have to affix the sensors in the jacket. one in the back and the other two sensors in each arm.

here you can see a feature which you can do how you like. thats the contact for the startbutton. i integrated a arcadebutton into the collar.

all work is done. now put you contoller into your pocket and switch it on. now you can fly through the room with your brand new “INTERFACE YOURSELF” jacket. if you have any clues and/or own ideas please let me know i will post it here.

marc.grimm{AT]merz-akademie.de

here is the video of this project in action!