Ran Zhou

Cassette Tape is a creative game controller with the shape of a tape. I was inspired by the gesture of rolling tapes with a pencil, which I usually did when I was a little girl. It was a therapeutic process and had a sense of rituality. This design is able to recall our memory of innocent childhood. 

Hardware

The controller is able to provide one analog input and two digital inputs. I put a rotary encoder behind the right turntable, which has a hexagon groove in the middle. The player can insert the end of the pencil into the groove and control the rotary encoder by rotating the pencil. In order to mimic the real function of tape, I put a stepper motor behind the left turntable. When the player rotates the pencil to roll the tape, the left turntable will rotate following the right one. On top of the controller, I designed two buttons to mimic the “play” and “record” buttons on the old tape recorder. After testing different kinds of switches and buttons, I find out the micro-switch has the best haptic feedback in this situation. I use 3D printing to make the components connect to the electronics elements to guarantee the precise combination. The main part of the controller is made of cardboard with laser cutting. The project is also controlled by Arduino Uno and uses Serial to transform the information to Unity. 

Software

I have created a Unity 2D game to test the controller and show its function. In the game, the player needs to collect the “good memory” with the red chip on the tape and avoid being hit by the scissors. The direction of the movement of the tape is controlled by the rotary encoder. Only when the player presses the “record” button the tape will be able to roll in the counter-clockwise direction. And if the player wants to roll the tape in the clockwise direction, the “play” button should be pressed.

Prototyping

Professors: Kyle Li, Henry Lam

2019. 10