cleanme

Okay, so awhile back I saw the pictures of GranTurismo5 and I said I HAVE to play that let alone any new video game! Up until now and since my accident I have played Command&Conquer: Generals as well as Command&Conquer: Tiberium Wars. Both games can just be played with a left mouse click.

Sooo, I thought, hmm even if I could just control gas and brake that would be amazing. Then a friend could steer and it would be pretty fun. I thought I would take the PS3 controller apart and take out two buttons and extend them and put the buttons in my mouth. Then I thought I would take a hockey mouthguard and put the two buttons in the mouthguard. That way the mouthguard acts as a 'frame'. Sounds great but then I saw the circuit board of the PS3 controller and it is a flexible plasticy/ribbon like material. Basically impossible to solder to. That idea was gone. So then I looked at a PS2 controller.

Now the problem with using a PS2 controller is that you need an adapter so it can plug into the PS3's USB port. No problem because there are lots of adapters out there. Wrong! I found out I needed a special adapter that would&could fake the "Sync" button found on the PS3 controller.

So I found the proper adapter, a Pelican PS2-PS3 Adapter. Too bad it is discontinued! So I went on Ebay and bought 5 different ones, I luckily found one that worked!

Fast forward a few weeks of working annnnnnnd, here it is:

Here's a picture of the whole thing, you'll see how a noname PS2 controller is wired out through a ribbon cable controller is wired out to a blackbox with my new controller



So here's the main part. The white plastic piece is shaped for your mouth, in it you can see three holes on the left, middle and right. Each one is connected to a sip/puff switch so if I blow air into the middle hole that is Button A, but if I sip air through that hole it activates Button B so those three holes in the white mouth piece are actually 6 buttons. Then the mouthpiece itself can move and acts as a joystick controlled by your mouth. Also, on the top&bottom of the white piece you'll see a red 'tab' covered by a piece of plastic tube. These are small, light pressure switches which are very easy to click/press with your lips.




Okay, here is a top view of the controller. You can see the red lip switch I was talking about. Then to the right of the lip switch you'll see a black button...it is a light press button. Then, on either side of the white mouthpiece are two toggle switches, they work like a light switch except that they 'click' into place or you can push&hold it up. Then on the right you'll see a bigger piece of clear plastic tube about 3" long. That is a sip/puff switch for Start/Select. It is a higher PSI switch so it is not accidentally 'pressed'. You can also see on the printed piece of paper what each button does so I don't forget! Also you can see smaller clear plastic tubes coming from the mouthpiece, those are for the sip/puff switches in the white mouthpiece. And then the black thing in the centre where everything is attached to is a joystick.



Oh, before I show the rest of the pictures what you don't see is all the circuitry and switches inside the box. I practiced soldering with my mouth and this isn't easy! Also for the stand it is made out of simple ABS Schedule40 plumbing pipe and some elbow joints. Then glued two caps into the wood base that sits on my lap. Here are some more pictures.












I'm pretty amazed at this so tell me what you think. But I only ask one thing, don't post this anywhere else or email the pictures because I don't want this idea stolen.

My next step is to get a Xbox360 controller, so watch out fellow gamers!

Zookie

wow that looks complicated... but it works... Great job

Christien

Holy crap, Brad, that's amazing! You really should take out a patent on that NOW. At least make sure you've got the plans printed for copyright purposes. Actually posting the pictures here was a good idea because now they're date-stamped in a verifiable manner.

That's really something.

Targa Tim

You are just amazing! Hope you can make a fortune out of your design.

jumper5836

Brad, that was very ingenious. The sip and puff switches are awesome. Now you can play a ton of games that require little complexity with little effort.
The more difficult games will take you much more effort to learn but with your determination I am sure you will be good at it in no time.
I really think a game mag should do a write up on you, you could probably help a lot of other people who are like you by giving them a chance to play games.

RyeHigh

I have just one word to describe you and what you've done.

AMAZING.

Dale Gribble

patent that **** man!

were you going to queens for mech eng or something? You seem to have a knack for stuff like this. Any ideas for a homemade flux capacitor?

Nine11

The thought and effort put into this is amazing.

TurboS

2nd

Especially the Patent part.

Well done!

Turbodan

great work. love the innovation. I admire your work!

pongobaz

Fantastic Brad! You really should market this: I'm sure there are many others out there who would love the opportunity to be able to play games again.
Bravo!

kilrgt

Now thats pretty tricked .! Good job and yea patent that ASAP!

JDSStudios

Bradd
You are super creative!
Did you ever study Electronics?

I hope a large company like Microsoft,
Sony, Nintendo or Google shows interest on your creation.
John

hoffa

That's friggin awsome! where did you get the components for that? Particularily the one that allows you to sip and puff PS I like the careful wording that doesnt say suck and blow haha

Is that an "off the shelf component"? Or is this something you designed? if it is, contact me offline, and I can help you patent it like the other guys said (my GF is in IP law)

cleanme

Queens pffffffffffffff!

I went to (and I'm on "sabbatical") University of Waterloo for Systems Design Engineering. I only did a year though (one semester over two semesters) and then took my "sabbatical" to do physio.

A knack? Well I guess, I don't know-I just build stuff and take it apart. You should see my potato guns! Hahaha


JDS,
Nope, never studied electronics-yet. Haha if Microsoft picked this up you'd see me at the next GTG with a modded out car - as in me driving.


Hoffa, hahaha nice catch on the sip/puff, I knew eventually someone was going to make a comment about that! I'll shoot you a PM.


Thanks guys, means a lot to me, I can't make it to tomorrow's GTG but next week I'll come out and bring this. I'll post a video shortly.