Kiss Controller (by Hye Yeon Nam)
Abstract
Kiss Controller is a game input device that controls the direction and speed of a bowling ball while users are kissing.
Introduction
Recently, with the improvement of camera capabilities and related tracking systems, game input systems such as Nintendo Wii controllers or Microsoft Kinect games are incorporating more body positions and movements. Kiss Controller is an experimental project that allows users to control a bowling game by moving their tongues while kissing. Unlike existing game input devices, Kiss Controller seeks to generate the emotional experience of a kinetic act while users play the game rather than control games with their body.
Project Description
The Kiss Controller interface has two components: a customized headset that functions as a sensor receiver and a magnet that provides sensor input. The user affixes a magnet to his/ her tongue with Fixodent. Magnetic field sensors are attached to the end of the headset and positioned in front of the mouth. As the user moves her tongue, this creates varying magnetic fields that are used to control games.
We demonstrate the Kiss Controller bowling game. One person has a magnet on his/her tongue and the other person wears the headset. While they kiss, the person who has the magnet on his/her tongue, controls the direction and speed of the bowling ball for 20 seconds. The goals of this game are to guide the ball so that it maintains an average position in the center of the alley and to increase the speed of the ball by moving the tongue faster while kissing.
Conclusion
Kissing is an intimate behavior that can be developed into a game device. It has not yet been proposed in the game industry. Kiss Controller shows how the human tongue can be used to control a game and how people can become creatively involved in a game.
Collaboration
Hye Yeon Nam and Sam Mendenhall