Design Concept
We wanted our controller to be outrageous and wearable, so we went with a penguin suit.
Challenges
Execution of the design concept was challenging because we had to worry about shielding the wires and routing them around our suit. Moreover, we had to make sure that the shielding could also strain relieve the wires so people wouldn't pull them out accidentally. Calibrating our accelerometers was also difficult because we wanted a flapping motion to serve as our mode of motion control. Distinguishing between flapping and other hand gestures that produced changes in analog values proved to be non-trivial.
Solution
Despite many challenges, we were able to package all the electronics within our penguin suit with the addition of a backpack while keeping user interactions relatively intuitive. We also attached a front electrical panel (Teletubby style), which housed two LEDs, and a button to command our craft to sing 'Ed'. It also had the interface for changing teams by communicating with different WHA:LE's transmitters.
We incorporated additional functionalities like a bow-tie for pairing and a foot pedal for driving backwards. It was a great learning experience incorporating all these functionalities in our G[OG]GLE. |