Angry Birds is one of those games that’s become more than just a game but has grown into a cultural phenomenon. It’s amazing to see how much it’s inspired the community to do awesome things, like this cool DIY slingshot controller.
This cool project games to us from Make (disclosure: I had a review published in the print magazine once), via mbed. The device uses a microcontroller (which the company happens to make), a 3-axis accelerometer and a rubber stretch sensor. It detects how far you’re pulling back on the slingshot and translates the movement into USB mouse signals, so it’s a plug-and-play device. You can find schematics and source code at the link above.
The controller is reminiscent of the interesting arcade controllers that showed up when video game companies were really experimenting in the ’90s, before consoles got as good and even surpassed arcade machines. It’s a lot like Nintendo’s Wiimote and Sony’s Kinect controllers, where it depends on your physical activity instead of just pressing buttons.
Here it is in action:
There’s a still a few more weeks of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, so if you’re trying to stay warm and you’re a fan of Angry Birds, you might want to check out this cool list of Angry Birds products to get you through Winter. If you’re in a DIY mood, you might want to check out some LEGO Angry Birds you can build yourself.
