From the very week of the semester when I learned what the final project would involve, I wanted to implement my skateboard into it as a controller.
The Digital Side of Things
I’m not quite sure of how the P5 side of things would look yet, but one of the ideas I had was to create an experience that commentates on the shaking feeling of anxiety and expresses it as speed wobbles going downhill. I’m not quite sure I can simulate that safely or even have a mechanism that provides movement to the board at all, but it could be a fun idea. You would have to balance the board at certain times but also lean in to either side to make decisions.
Another idea I had was to make a more simple arcade-styled game that uses the skateboard controller. For example, I could make a pong game with two skateboard controllers that have the same mechanics as my midterm project (the forward and backward velocity factors). This would definitely be a little easier on me on the programming side but I’m not sure how I would do two separate skateboard controllers, or if it’d even be fun.
The Physical Side of Things
I have actually thought extensively about how the board might be physically situated.
I want the skateboard to sit stationary so I’m probably going to create something like a wooden frame to hold the board either by the trucks or by the wheels. If I want the frame to hold onto the trucks, I would need to unscrew the wheels and create screw holes in the wooden frame. If I want to keep the wheels on, I would make a mold to hold the board with the wheels on.
For the input sensors, I would need a pair of two distance sensors, one for each side of the board. Each of them will be placed on the ground facing upward to detect how tilted the board is. If the distance between ground and board is closer on the left side than the right side, that means the rider is probably tilting left to turn left. I’m not sure if there’s a more efficient way of approaching this but that’s the idea I have so far.
I want to take advantage of resources we have in the IM lab and scene shop but I’ve never worked with physical materials on this scale before so I’m not sure where to start. That’s definitely one of the bigger pain points on the table right now.
Ultimately, there’s a good chance I might change the concept of my project entirely to fit a little closer to the scope of my current abilities. I realize there’s a lot of unfamiliar territory I want to explore here and it might be best to play it safer.
