Electronic Twister Mat

Over the past few months I have been developing an interactive art installation which incorporates an interactive Twister mat which I constructed using a simple I-Pac controller, a regular old Twister game and a few other common materials.

(This instructable only documents the construction of the mat, and not the computer programming aspects, which were done in Max/MSP and Adobe Flash. If you would like info on those, feel free to contact me through my Instrucables account.)

Step 1 Materials

Things you will need:

1 Twister game ($12 dollars at Target)

200 feet of thin, flexible wire (solid or stranded core will work)

1 I-Pac controller with USB cable (available here: http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html) or a microcontroller with at least 24 inputs

2 sheets of headliner foam, 54 x 72 inches each (available at any fabric store)

1 sheet of painting plastic, 54 x 72 inches

1 roll of aluminum foil

1 roll of duct tape

Tools:

Small flathead screwdriver

Wire strippers

Scissors

Permanent marker

Tape Measure

Comments

[lmpatzer]

I just created a pressure sensor using the same materials and basic design of the electronic Twister mat and it worked great for a couple of days but after awhile the aluminum foil started to make contact even when someone wasn't on the mat.  It seems that the pressure from someone standing on the mat left an indentation on the foil and eventually the relief part started to stand up high enough to touch the top layer of foil through the hole.  Did you have a similar problem?  If so, how did you remedy it?

Thanks for your help!  I really like the design of the electronic Twister mat!
~lmpatzer

[Pachicito]

 Hi!

Glad you like the twister project.  I did have a similar issue with the tinfoil switches.  I had to compromise by making the holes in the foam smaller (about 4 inches in diameter).  Taping down the foil is a must as well.  

Hope this helps!

[cmanou]

is there a chance you could provide code for your program(the one thats on the projector)

[GEEK1]

great and amazing

[Weissensteinburg]

That's awesome! They should sell a model like this.

[jessyratfink]

Yeah, it'd be much more fun to watch and play if you know exactly where everyone is. :D