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Scratch Input Device - Balance Board

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6 replies [Last post]
Kent Chesnut
Member
February 07, 2010

I've posted about building a simple and cheap balance board that can be used with Scratch (using the PicoBoard as an interface). 

The link is http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=100

My goal is to motivate more kids to be involved with Scratch by providing a novel input device.

I'd be interested in any opinions you might have.

Replies
Ai Boon Tan
Member
February 16, 2010

Hi there. I have downloaded it to see if I can make one like it. Thank you for sharing. : )

Anders Berggren
Member
February 14, 2010

Thanks Kent for sharing this superb idea. It´s a little bit of WeeDo tiltsensor, but much larger... :)

Karen Brennan
Member
February 08, 2010

Ah, this is totally awesome! I can't wait to see your next post about the projects you created! 

Kent Chesnut
Member
February 14, 2010

Karen,

Thanks for the comment and the encouragement.  The first project I created was totally simple - but was mainly used to verify the operation of  the balance board and to see if one could use it to actually control an on-screen sprite. 

Here's the link to my blog post: http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=108

I hope to create something a little more interesting for the next project.

(There is some good news about such a simple project.  I ran a Scratch class last Summer and believe a project of this complexity could easily be done by some of the 3rd graders who were in the class.  Maybe the balance board would be useful in a kids' Scratch class.)

Karen Brennan
Member
February 15, 2010

Thanks so much for the update. I thought the project was great -- easy to understand and mapped really nicely to the user interface you've developed. I particularly enjoyed listening to you narrate the project!

http://www.g4classes.com/learningforward/scratch/segway1.swf

Very, very cool...

Thanks again,
K

Kent Chesnut
Member
February 17, 2010

Karen,

Thanks for the encouragement.  The narration looks better (doesn't show the artifacts) at

http://www.g4classes.com/learningforward/scratch/segway1.swf.html

Not sure why playing the swf directly looks strange.

Have a great day,

Kent