Chapter 911: Hardcore Box Players
"It actually makes sound?!"
Zhou Jiangping was stunned. What kind of black technology was this?
The problem was, it was one thing if others didn't understand the principle, but Zhou Jiangping had even been involved in the design of the Switch. Even he couldn't immediately figure out the sound mechanism of this thing, which was very confusing.
For the Switch, Zhou Jiangping knew its functions and structure very well, let alone these flimsy cardboard boxes. Zhou Jiangping had watched Chen Mo assemble them from start to finish.
How could putting them together create this kind of chemical reaction?
Zhou Jiangping turned the paper piano around again, carefully observing its structure.
The only thing he was sure of was that the sound function was completed by the Switch itself. The game Chen Mo had just made should be a simple piano simulator. As long as it knew which key the player pressed, it could produce the corresponding sound on the Switch.
But the question was, how did the Switch know which key the player pressed?
Zhou Jiangping shifted his attention to the controller behind the paper piano.
"Could it be... an infrared camera?"
Zhou Jiangping remembered that the right Joy-Con of the Switch had an infrared camera. Obviously, it could read the movement changes of the keys inside the piano, send this information to the Switch, and thus produce the corresponding sound.
"Fun! This thing is pretty sturdy!" Zhou Jiangping held the paper piano in his hands, unable to put it down. "But... can it actually play a tune?"
"Of course it can."
Chen Mo took the paper piano from Zhou Jiangping and played a piece of "Gokuraku Jodo."
Zhou Jiangping was shocked. It could actually play?
And the tone was pretty good?
Of course, there was no absolute standard for good tone. Zhou Jiangping wasn't a music professional. In his view, a hundred-yuan earphone and a ten-thousand-yuan earphone both just made noise, with little difference. The tone of this paper piano was simply determined by the Switch's speaker, but for an amateur like Zhou Jiangping, the sound was acceptable, not much different from a phone's external speaker or an electronic keyboard.
Zhou Jiangping looked at the paper piano: "Amazing! Boss Chen, how did you come up with this?"
Chen Mo smiled: "This was originally a reserved function of the Switch. When we were developing the motion sensing and infrared sensing, we actually already had this aspect in mind."
Zhou Jiangping asked: "Then... besides this paper piano, can you make other things?"
Chen Mo nodded: "Of course. If you can imagine it, it can be done. I'll make another one."
With that, Chen Mo went back to the pile of cardboard boxes, found a larger piece of cardboard, and finished it in one go.
This time, the little gadget was very simple. It looked like a strange robot with six legs. Of course, calling it a robot was an overstatement. This thing could be made from a single piece of cardboard, and the six legs were only there to help it maintain balance.
Zhou Jiangping was puzzled. What the hell was this thing?
He watched as Chen Mo placed the two Joy-Cons on the left and right sides of the robot, securing them in place, then picked up the Switch screen.
The screen only had two very simple buttons. Chen Mo pressed the left button, and the robot's left leg moved forward; he pressed the right button, and the robot's right leg moved forward. If he held the button down, the robot spun in place. If he pressed both buttons together, the robot moved straight ahead.
Zhou Jiangping was dumbfounded: "What kind of black technology is this?!"
Chen Mo handed the Switch screen to Zhou Jiangping, and Zhou Jiangping, like a child, played with it endlessly.
The robot's construction was very simple, and it could only move forward, but such a simple little thing filled Zhou Jiangping with immense wonder.
The question was, how was this even possible?
Zhou Jiangping even checked carefully. This little robot was completely folded from a single piece of corrugated cardboard. The six legs underneath had no power devices, and they couldn't even bend. So how did this little thing move according to the Switch's commands?
Zhou Jiangping stared at it for a long time, studying it, and discovered that the secret lay in the vibration of the Joy-Cons.
When the left Joy-Con vibrated, the left part of the paper robot moved forward under the effect of the vibration. As for the specific principle, Zhou Jiangping couldn't explain it, but he was sure that the cardboard box was very light, and the robot's legs were deliberately made into this 30-degree sharp angle shape, all to make it walk more smoothly. Without these two points, the robot's mobility would probably be very poor.
Chen Mo said: "This thing also has a special way to play. You can try this button on the lower half of the screen."
Zhou Jiangping tapped the screen, and the paper robot stopped moving.
Chen Mo placed his hand about 15 centimeters in front of the paper robot.
Zhou Jiangping was astonished to find that the robot moved!
Zhou Jiangping hadn't pressed anything on the Switch screen, hadn't issued any movement commands to the robot, but the robot actually started moving, chasing after Chen Mo's hand!
And the movement was incredibly precise. Chen Mo deliberately moved his hand in different directions, making various turns, and the paper robot could follow without any obstacles, reacting extremely quickly. Whether turning left or right, it was almost synchronized with Chen Mo's hand movements.
It felt like teasing a little dog with a piece of sausage.
"Is this also the work of the infrared camera?"
Zhou Jiangping looked closely at the Switch screen and found a small display area showing the image captured by the Joy-Con's infrared camera. Obviously, this camera could "see" the position of Chen Mo's hand, send it to the Switch, and then the Switch would control the two Joy-Cons to vibrate, moving toward the position of Chen Mo's hand.
Zhou Jiangping tried it himself and found that the recognition was really high, smoother than he could have imagined.
"Incredible! Usually, you use the Joy-Cons to play the Switch, but this is using the Switch to play the Joy-Cons!"
Zhou Jiangping was completely convinced. If the principle of the paper piano was somewhat understandable, the principle of this paper robot was very baffling.
Just through these two small Joy-Cons, so many things could be accomplished?
Using vibration to make a cardboard box walk? This was simply a stroke of genius!
Zhou Jiangping asked: "Boss Chen, you're not going to tell me there are even more fun ways to do this, are you?"
Chen Mo laughed: "Of course there are more ways to play. The Switch's Joy-Cons are very powerful; they are a top-notch motion-sensing device in themselves. When it officially launches, there will be even more interesting ways to play, even allowing players to create their own gameplay."
Zhou Jiangping was silent for a moment, then sighed: "This thing... is indeed way more awesome than a pop-up book. What's the name of this set of cardboard boxes?"
Chen Mo smiled: "Just call it... Hardcore Box Players!"