Product Announcement – tiltBoard

This is the announcement for the official release of my first product “tiltBoard”. Pre-order here.

TiltBoard is a device that outputs a linear voltage with respect to it’s degree of tilt. It has 5 inputs/outputs: V+, GND, Yout, Xout, and Vref. The maximum voltage output by the board is variable depending on the voltage put into the VREF input. The minimum voltage output is 0 volts. The board outputs the max/min values for the Y-axis when it is tilted 45 degrees or more up/down. The board outputs the max/min values for the X-axis when it is tilted 60 degrees or more left/right. When it is between 0 degrees and the maximum tilt degree, it outputs a voltage linearly proportional to the degree of tilt and the maximum tilt.

This means that this board works great for taking the place of potentiometers. You simply take the high voltage of the potentiometer and apply it to the VRef pin. Then you apply either the Xout or Yout output to where the center pin of your potentiometer went. Now tilting your tiltBoard does the same thing that turning the potentiometer used to do! (Be sure to disconnect the center pin on the potentiometer from the circuit)

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Lag? We Don’t Need No Stinking Lag!

I have been noticing several comments on the web claiming that my tilt controller has too much lag to be worthwhile. Some people claim that they saw “seconds” of lag. I can understand how people can think that the controller has some lag associated with it. When watching someone play a game it is hard to judge whether the controller has lag or not because the games don’t usually have instantaneous response. If I am playing a racing game and am turning left then decide to turn right, it doesn’t happen instantaneously. It is built into the game controls.

In this video I show you the Xbox 360 tilt controller in the Windows XP “Game Controllers” control panel. It shows you the X and Y positions in real time.

For those that swear it is a fake and that they can “hear someone in the background clicking the analog sticks around”, I don’t know how to help you.

Xbox 360 Tilt Controller – Finished!

tiltbackside.jpg

The Xbox 360 tilt controller is finished! I got rid of my breadboard mess, switched to mostly surface mount components and put everything onto a circuit board. It sure is easier to play games without wires hanging everywhere! I will be releasing a video of the finished version of this soon, but nothing has changed game play wise since the phase two video (below). You can find all of the details about this project in the phase two post also.

Let me know what you think about this and whether or not I should make a wireless version. Also, I would like my projects to start becoming self sufficient, so if you are interested in buying a 360 tilt controller or maybe just a soldered circuit board, let me know. You can either leave a comment or send me an e-mail at: [email protected]