We’ve seen microcontroller boards used to play Snake (opens in new tab) or Pong (opens in new tab), but Red Dead Redemption 2 (opens in new tab)? That had seemed out of the tiny boards’ reach, until we spotted a remarkable video (opens in new tab) from Jatin Patel, AKA Teenenggr.
In it, Patel hooks up air cylinders to his desk and programs a microcontroller, an Arduino in this case, but it could easily have been a Raspberry Pi Pico (opens in new tab), to match the horse’s gait and take the noble steed's speed from the game via a serial link.
There’s nearly an expensive accident during testing, but after carefully taping his monitor to his desktop, he sets his new pneumatic horse loose in the snows of RDR2. The video is well worth watching for the hilarious moment his desk comes alive.
If you want to create your own equine escape simulator, Patel has placed a tutorial on his site, there’s code on GitHub, and a roll of Duck Tape (opens in new tab) is less than $6. The highest cost in this project are pneumatics used to simulate the horse. Patel has form in this area, having previously created a desktop rumble solution (opens in new tab), and a sniper recoil replicator (opens in new tab). We’re surprised he’s still got a desk.
