Makey Makey

1. Makey Makey How to Makey Makey a Banana Piano

2. Makey Makey • MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It's a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything inbetween • The Makey Makey name comes from the idea of making anything a key • The board connects via USB and is recognised asa USB mouse or keyboard • The board will work on any PC, Mac, and most tablets and smart phones

3. What can Makey Makey do? • The Makey Makey board comes with a number of premapped keys representing mouse or keyboard clicks • You have Up, Down, Left, Right, Space and Click • On the back you have additional outlets for the letter keys W, A, S, D, F, G • In order to register a key strike they must be connected to the earth along the bottom

4. How does it work? • Alligator Clip and wires can be used to connect the board • Connections can be made via a large range of conductive materials • When a connection is made the computer registers a key strike • No additional software is required to make the board work • As such the Makey Makey works with any program or website that accepts keyboard and mouse inputs

5. Basic Setup • Requires 4 leads to the Up, Down, Left, Right and 1 to the Earth • Now connect the Makey Makey to your computer using the USB cable • The device will be detected as if it is a USB keyboard or mouse • Connect crocodile clips to Earth and the 4 keys • Touch the earth wire and one of the Key wires to register the input

6. Test it out • To test open up notepad • Test that the cursor can be moved by the keys • Alternatively try out one the one button games: • http://flabbyphysics.com/ (Uses the space key) • http://www.adamatomic.com/canabalt/ (Uses the space key)

7. Using the back of the board • Disconnect the leads • Turn the Makey Makey over • On the left side there are a set of inputs labelled WASDFG • These represent the letter keys on the keyboard • make some PayDoh letters • Cut some wires and strip the ends • Connect the wires to each letter • Also connect a wire to a seperate piece of PayDoh representing the earth

8. Connecting to Objects • Again connect to a computer • This time in Notepad test the PlayDoh letters • They only work when a connection is made to earth • The voltages involved are less than 5V • Try linking hands • Test other input objects

9. Suitable Conductors • Pieces of Fruit • Lines of graphite drawn on paper • Liquids • Plants with the wire in the soil and touching a leaf • Foil and other metal objects • People • Use your own imagination

10. What the board is capable of • There is the possibility of 18 input channels • The predefined ones are Space, Click, Left, Right Up, Down, Left Click, Right Click, W, A, S, D, F, G • The board is an Arduino board and can be customised, look this up on Google • This would allow you to spin motors, turn on LEDs, or anything else that an Arduino can do

11. Banana Piano • Scratch Piano for use with Makey Makey • http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/3197818/ • Additonal musical applications: • http://ronwinter.tv/drums.html • http://makeymakey.com/bongos/ • http://soundplant.org/ • Use your own imagination!

12. Some existing projects • Cat Photo Booth • Jar Jar Keys • Magnetic Maze • Sketch It Play It • Scratch Operation Game • Musical Room • Musical Weave • Video Gallery

13. Programs to use your Makey Makey with • Connected Objects • A list of scratch programs designed for Makey Makey • Flash Flash Revolution • Pacman • Tetris

14. Additional Links • Official Makey Makey site • http://www.makeymakey.com/ • Jay Silver on TED • http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_silver_hack_a_banana_make_a_keyboard.html • Similar Projects: • Squishy Circuits • http://www.ted.com/talks/annmarie_thomas_squishy_circuits.html • Singing Fingers • http://www.singingfingers.com • Drawdio • http://web.media.mit.edu/~silver/drawdio/