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- Hey, it Dami from The Verge.
I got to try out Nintendo Labo today,
a DIY cardboard kit made specially for Nintendo Switch.
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I got to try out a variety of mini games
like fishing, playing with the keyboard
and stomping around as a giant robot.
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Since it's all made of cardboard,
it seems really simple, but there's actually a lot of
really interesting tech behind it all.
But, before we get into all of that
we have to start by actually building the projects.
Oh, wait, I have it, I'm sorry.
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I would say this sheet of cardboard
is actually a little bit thicker
than your regular like, cereal box cardboard,
it's definitely not as thick as Amazon packaging cardboard,
but I'm being as gentle and delicate as I can with it.
It's a little bit like doing origami,
but the cardboard is a lot stiffer than regular paper.
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This is making me realize just how
like spatially challenged I am.
Oh, I think we messed up,
but it's okay if you mess up because you can go
forwards and backwards on the app
and it tells you just exactly where you screwed up.
If you've ever used the Ikea AR app,
it's really helpful to see things
in 3D instead of like a flat 2D space.
So we just finished building the RC car,
and each kit actually comes with two of them,
one is blank so you can customize it however you want.
You can control it with the Switch here,
pressing the right red controller
will make it vibrate and move.
It does the same thing for the blue controller.
If you wanna make it go one direction you can
press both of them at the same time.
So this part is really interesting.
There's actually a camera in one of the controllers here
and you can see through the camera on the app.
It almost kind of looks like night vision here.
Can even make it look at me, there I am.
And another super cool thing is if you just tap it
one more time it turns into a heat-sensing camera.
And actually, if you put it on auto-mode,
it can follow you around
according to the source of heat here.
If I put my hand in front of it,
it follows the source of heat.
This is actually the IR camera on the controller,
and beyond seeing your own body heat,
it works with these little reflective IR stickers
that pick up on the camera really easily.
And here's where the Labo gets really interesting.
By arranging them in a certain way,
you're basically creating a code for the camera to receive.
Sure, you expect the normal tilt-based controls,
like this motorcycle where you
turn the controller to drive the engine,
or the robot visor where tilting my head
controls the direction I walk.
But something like the keyboard,
each of the keys have a sticker on the back
which the camera at the end of the piano picks up
to see which note is being played.
There's also IR stickers on the little knobs
you can plug in and dial to change the pitch of the sounds.
For the robot kit, all these strings are attached
to weights that pull the IR stickers
up and down when you throw a punch.
The controller in the back can see the stickers move,
which controls the robot.
So, the IR camera on the controller
really wasn't utilized that much before the Labo.
Basically, it can detect an object in a 3D space,
so it's really only used for a handful of games,
like the eating contest game on 1-2-Switch.
What's really cool about Labo
is just how it opens up a world of possibilities,
like there's so much potential for 3D printing communities,
or like the DIY enthusiasts online
to come together and share what they know.
Just really make it their own.
And in keeping with this style,
Nintendo actually introduced Toy-Con Garage,
which let's you reprogram the Toy-Cons you have,
and remix their features
and map different buttons to different actions.
For example, if you press a button on the blue controller,
it can make the red controller vibrate.
So right now there's two different kits you can buy.
There's the Robot Kit, which is $79,
let's you stomp around as a giant robot.
And there's also the Variety Kit, which is $69.
Seems like a better value because
there's five Toy-Cons you can make
and with the Toy-Con Garage you can actually
remix and play with it all again.
At the end of the day,
Nintendo isn't just selling a cardboard kit,
it's selling a platform.
There's so much you can do
with the technology they're offering.
No matter which kit you decide to go with,
I think you're gonna love it all.
I mean, for the first year the Switch
is already doing super amazing,
developers are flocking to the console.
So I'm really looking forward to seeing
what other things they're gonna add to it.
You can tilt your head to move directions,
walk up to a building.
- Big robot steps.
- And just smash the hell out of it.