Nintendo Power Glove Hacked for Stop-Motion Animation Work

Robot Chicken animator Dillon Markey found a way to incorporate a little piece of his childhood nostalgia into his grown-up life by hacking a Nintendo Power Glove to turn it into a stop-motion animation tool. In “Playing with Power,” a terrific video by Ava Benjamin (WARNING: Video contains brief NSFW language), Markey explains why he uses an antiquated piece of gaming technology in his professional work and how he modified it to make it into an essential tool.

What I’ve done is I’ve created a Bluetooth Power Glove, which is a tool that I use to connect to the computer and control “Dragon” stop-motion software, which is what we use to shoot stop-motion.

After getting frustrated with the awkward process of carrying around a USB-attached keypad while he worked, Markey felt that there ought to be a better way for him to work and decided that he had to have a Power Glove on his arm. Having no experience with electronics, Markey asked around for assistance, and after enlisting the help of a co-worker’s electrical engineer husband, he transformed his old Nintendo Power Glove into a functional and effective tool!

glove2

As far as I’m concerned, the best thing about this amazing project is not just that Markey successfully hacked a Nintendo Power Glove and incorporated it into his everyday life, it’s that’s he’s still excited about it 3 years after having the idea!

I see this and it’s like the coolest thing in the world, it’s like a cyborg arm, it rules!

That totally rules.

[via Laughing Squid]

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Artist, writer, and teacher who makes work about popular culture, technology, and traditional craft processes. http://www.andrewsalomone.com

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