Yang Zhang, Wolf Kienzle, Yanjun Ma, Shiu S. Ng, Hrvoje Benko, and Chris Harrison have created ActiTouch: robust touch detection for on-skin AR/VR interfaces. Instead of traditional handheld controllers, the system uses the body as an input device.

A smartwatch-style wristband contains a Kinetis K20 microcontroller running firmware prototyped with Teensy and a AD5930 waveform generator, as well as a LiPo battery to power the system. Electrodes on the wrist and headset, combined with computer vision enables both high tracking precision and robust touch detection, permitting touchscreen-like interactions on the wearer’s own skin. Learn more on Chris’s web site, in the original paper, or in the video below.

Adrian wanted to create a silly surprise for their friend and avid player of the rhythm game OSU!, with the bonus goal of getting a chance to learn about electronics. The result of this was an adorable two-key keyboard based around a Teensy.

Combining some spare keyboard switches and a 3d-printed case and caps with Teensy’s built-in Human Interface Device (HID) mode, the gag gift gives off a surprisingly professional vibe, not to mention a fair number of laughs. Despite being intended as a joke, the keyboard could be useful for video editing, or … using Stack Overflow!

Aaron Todd is the eponymous hacker behind the One Hacker Band — a social media sensation that uses electronics to make musical instruments play themselves via MIDI. Guitars, percussion, a Novation keyboard, vocals — OHB’s got it all, and it’s all powered by Teensy!

Aaron takes us behind the scenes of the band’s servo-controlled self-playing keyboard in the video below:

We’ll be taking a deeper dive into some of the individual instruments, but for now, check them out on all the socials, and enjoy this cover of Come as You Are by Nirvana!

YouTuber James Bruton wanted to create a prosthetic arm with natural control. At first, the idea was to use a brain-computer interface, but obtaining reliable data this way proved more difficult than expected.

So James pivoted to using machine learning to train the arm to mimic his real arm based on the position and posture of other parts of his body — using a bunch of Teensy boards while he was at it!

The motion capture solution is based on five Teensy LC boards with TDK MPU-6050 six-axis gyro/accelerometer sensors for motion, with the four “limb” units also adding AMS AS5047 magnetic rotary position sensors for joint position. A central Teensy 4.1 connected to each of them orchestrates data collection. Dynamixel servo actuators power the arm using an Arduino MKR-style shield connected to the 4.1. After training the system using all of his real limbs, James then swapped in the 3d-printed prosthetic for his right arm, and it continued to mimic the poses used in training, as you can see in the video below!

The C-Thru Music AXiS-49 plug n play music interface was a velocity sensitive MIDI input device designed for composing and arranging music. Ben Glover’s Midihex is a new MIDI controller inspired by the AXiS-49, with 98 playing keys and an additional five function keys.

What the original device unique is the 49-note, 98-key harmonic table layout, which facilitates playing and composition along traditional interval sequences. Ben’s design uses Hall-effect sensors, enabling not just note velocity, but also the more expressive MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE), meaning timbre, pitch, amplitude, and other parameters could be modulated. The Midihex is based on the Teensy 4.1, with open-source firmware, allowing customization of the layout to use for example Wicki-Hayden, or microtonal scales such as Bohlen-Pierce or 31-TET. Find out more on the project’s web site, and see a demo in the video below.