MaKey MaKey

MaKey MaKey
Awaken your ingenuity with MaKey MaKey! Turn apples into computer game controllers or invent a ‘banana keys’ piano. The MaKey MaKey Kit offers everything you need and is easy to use.
The MaKey MaKey (‘make’ + ‘key’), whose development and production were funded through Kickstarter, is a small toolkit for inventors, artists and those who simply want to have fun! It allows you to convert almost anything into input devices for your PC.
How does it work?
The board, a simplified Arduino, is easily connected to a computer via USB (no driver required). Connect an alligator clip attached to a connector wire to one of the six Earth-connect options on the board. Connect a second alligator clip on another wire to any object, and the other end of that wire to part of the MaKey MaKey board, for example the one labelled “Space”. If you open a text editor now and touch the object, the MaKey MaKey will send the command to enter a space. In most games, you could jump simply at the touch of a connected object, say, an apple!
The MaKey MaKey offers 6 different typical controller buttons on the front and another 12 on the back. Connect those on the back with jumpers and you can simulate WASDFG and mouse buttons. What’s more, mouse movements are possible, too. The open source kit can handle the simultaneous pressing of up to 6 buttons, so for example, you can enjoy ‘banana-made’ music!
To enjoy all this fun, there’s just one requirement: the objects you use need to be conductive, even mildly. So that means fruit is game, metals of course, and even you! Usually, you can help things out by making them a little wet :).
MaKey MaKey is so simple to use that even children can set it up. Though you don’t need to know anything about Arduino, if you do you’ll even be able to extend the potential of MaKey MaKey.
Here’s some tech stuff:
–The hardware comes from the U.S. electronics manufacturer Sparkfun.
–The built-in microcontroller is an ATMEGA32U4
–Using Arduino in operation mode, you can control LEDs, for example
–Use Arduino SDK to reprogram functions
-It uses the Human Interface Device (HID) protocol to communicate.
–The board has a pull-up resistor of 10-50 mega ohms; noise can be filtered out.
–This version lets you [[remap the keys in your browser|https://www.makeymakey.com/remap/]]

MaKey MaKey has been tested on Mac OSX 10.5 and higher (leopard, snow leopard, lion, mountain lion, etc.). MaKey MaKey has been tested and works on many flavors of Linux (Ubuntu, etc.) and on Chromebook.
MaKey MaKey works on some tablets and mobile devices, but is not officially supported. Just try it out!