controller

272 Articles

Guitar Hero Actuator

June 11, 2008 by 5 Comments


Another day, another EE that refuses to play Guitar Hero properly. [Julian Bleecker] went into the design of this Guitar Hero actuator not really knowing how to size solenoids properly. Luckily, trial and error can get you a long way. The first solenoids he purchased couldn’t apply enough force. The second was overkill. It was certainly strong enough but too heavy and too large to mount to the neck. The final set ended up being both the right size and working well even at 12V, half the design voltage. The elegant mounting system is what really makes this project shine. [Julian] provides the schematic for the ATmega168 driver board, which is an Arduino stripped of the extraneous bits.

Related: Slashbot and AutoGuitarHero

[via Make]

One Handed Controller Available For Pre-order

June 5, 2008 by 5 Comments


You are probably familiar with the work of [Ben Heckendorn]. His latest commercial project, the one handed Access Controller, is now available for pre-order. A well known modder, he has created several unique video game console adaptations including a scratch built one handed Xbox 360 controller.

A unique feature of this controller is that it allows you to change the location of the buttons/joysticks. This modular design can be swapped and customized depending on your needs. Ben is including a guide for creating your own modules, should you be so inclined. The device uses 2.4Ghz wireless to communicate and is available for $129.99.

Since we know you are more interested in hacks than gadgets, be sure to checkout Heckendorn’s nice collection of how-tos on Engadget.

[via Engadget]

PSP External Controller Wiring

May 30, 2008 by 9 Comments


Acimods contributor [Blizzrad] has just finished one of the cleanest mods we’ve seen in a while. With minimal modification to the outside of the PSP he was able to add an external PS2 controller. This naturally took a lot of internal modification. The controller and PSP use a 25 pin SMT connector salvaged from a laptop. The controller’s connector housing is from a set of component cables. Video after the break plus some wiring pictures.

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Maker Faire 2008: Stribe Music Controller

May 5, 2008 by 4 Comments


We saw a lot of interesting gear at Maker Faire last weekend and thought we’d highlight some of those projects this week. [Josh Boughey]’s Stribe was originally inspired by the monome 40h. It features of 16 columns of 64 LEDs for a total of 1024 individually addressable lights. Even with all those LEDs, PWM control means it can run off of USB power. 8 spectrasymbol softpots are used between the columns for user input. It’s really quite an amazing feat for being [josh]’s first board design. All of the circuit designs and firmware are available. Check out Flickr for more photos from this weekend.

Reverse Engineering The Novint Falcon

March 28, 2008 by 5 Comments


[qDot]’s been spending alot of time with the Novint Falcon haptic controller. He’s put together a ‘brain dump’ of everything he know about the device – and some notes on his efforts to put together his own software library for the thing. I’m definitely interested in the parallel robotics platform that it appears to be based on.

DIY Wireless NES Controllers For Wii/Gamecube

February 20, 2007 by 11 Comments


[Mark] sent in his wireless classic nintendo controller project. He built a wireless NES and SNES controller to use with his Wii via the Gamecube port. He used off the shelf TX/RX hardware and used some PIC controllers to glue everything together. iPod batteries keep em powered and keep the weight down. He provides all the schematics and a walk through on constructing the SNES controller. The circuits are pretty simple, so it’s definitely repeatable. This is almost enough to get me to buy a Wii.

— video after the break.

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