Inventors, little and big, it’s time to let loose your imaginations. Making a doughnut into a keyboard is just the beginning with this Kickstarter gadget that’s a little crazy and a lot of fun.
Makey Makey GO is the latest creation from Joylabz, and is the simpler, more affordable little brother of the old school Makey Makey. It’s a portable invention kit that connects ordinary objects to your computer via USB and lets those ordinary objects control your computer.
Being creative with the Makey Makey GO is pretty simple, and relies on completing an electrical circuit. Plug the Makey Makey GO into your USB port, attach an alligator clip and connect the other end of the alligator clip to any conductive material – a plate of jelly, your shirt, a banana. Complete the circuit by touching the object, and the computer will respond. The default response is a mouse click, but by using the gear button on the Makey Makey GO, you can customise it to make the computer do what you like.
Inventions run the gamut from the hilarious to the ingenious. Take the Slip’n Selfie, where a person launches themselves down a Slip’n Slide and triggers a photo finish on their tablet by giving a friend a high five. Attach an alligator clip to a plate of jelly and play a video game by poking the jelly every time your avatar needs to jump. Touch a kid’s nose to make your computer play a note.
The Makey Makey GO makes the whole world into a giant construction kit, as the video below shows. For a lot of kids (and grown-ups) that’s a dream come true. As the founder, Jay Silver, said, “What could be more useful than feeling alive and having fun?”
Support Makey Makey GO on Kickstarter. For US$19, you’ll get a Makey Makey GO kit with one USB plug and alligator clip. For US$39 you’ll get two kits and a bonus tin to house your gear.
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