Very Special Effect Makeup at the 2012 Makey Awards
We’ve received a lot of questions about the amazing special effects makeup at the Makeys. Here’s some background on the incredible crew and the amazing looks they created for us.
Wearables
Heatit Brings More Amps to Microcontroller Projects
We all know the Arduino as a versatile electronics prototyping tool, but it is often lacking in applications that require higher amperage. Enter Heatit.
Finger-mounted Device Creates Its Own Touch Interface
Flipping the touch screen paradigm on its ear, a group from Autodesk Research, the University of Toronto, and the University of Alberta have created a new method and apparatus for user interaction. Dubbed Magic Finger, the system consists of a micro NanEye RGB camera, an optical mouse sensor, and an LED attached to the index finger with hook and loop.
Animated Admiral Ackbar Costume
Everybody’s favorite bipedal cephalopod, Admiral Ackbar, is faithfully recreated in animatronic detail by Tom Cuthbert and Daniel Valdez. The head and arms are cast in rubber and outfitted with hardware to control facial expressions.
Mind-powered Animal Ears
Yesterday I went to check out Burning Man Decompression in San Francisco. As always, there were incredible costumes: a pair of giant cardboard robots, interacting with passersby, a gentleman dressed as a walking gold lamé shower, and my personal favorite, brainwave-controlled animal ears.
Glove Based Sign-to-Speech System
The EnableTalk system uses a glove-mounted microcontroller to collate information from a passel of onboard sensors—11 flex sensors, 8 touch sensors, 2 accelerometers, a compass, and a gyroscope—and transmit it wirelessly to a nearby computer or smartphone for translation into machine generated speech.
Old Spice Muscle Music Player
I’m loving this new (can you even call it a) commercial from Old Spice. Sensors are hooked up to the body of Terry Crews, and when flexing, it creates music from the attached, improvised instruments. When the video ends, you get the chance to play, too, using the keyboard. I have a MaKey MaKey coming […]
