Wiilated software
Once upon a time, I bought a Wii. It’s a good time. The brilliance of the Wii is, of course, its controllers. Traditional video game controllers focus mainly on pushing buttons while manipulating a joystick. The Wiimote, in contrast, has relatively few buttons and no joystick (although you can add one by attaching the Wiimote’s “nunchuck“). Instead, the magic of the Wiimote is hidden within.
The control can sense its own acceleration in all three dimension, and (when its not moving to fast) it can determine its angle relative to the ground (disclaimer: this feature will not work in space). Most importantly, it contains an infrared camera that watches for the Wii’s sensor bar, which is supposed to be placed directly below your TV screen.
Thanks to infrared camera and sensor bar, you can do fun things like move a cursor around your TV screen just by pointing at it (if only Nintendo made cable boxes). The interesting thing about the sensor bar, is that it’s really just two infrared dots, and can even be replaced with candles). By spotting these two dots, the Wiimote can tell where on your screen its pointing, as well as how far it is from your TV. Although only two dots are required for this task, the Wiimote is quite capable of seeing all sorts of stuff, provided infrared light is involved (more on that below).
The final, and perhaps greatest thing about the Wiimote, is that it’s wireless. It uses bluetooth to communicate with a Wii console. This means that it can just as easily connect to a bluetooth-enabled computer. Why is this important? Well it’s generally easier for programmer types to write software for a computer than a video game system. As a result, many intrepid individuals have taken to programming Wiimote-controlled computer software that is free for download.
Wiiinstruments, is a wonderful example. If you download this program, you get to use your Wiiremotes (as well your Wii nunchucks, which also sense acceleration) to trigger drum noises. Here’s the demo video. My housemate (pictured above) downloaded this software a weeks ago. It was an exhilarating/exhausting experience. Admittedly, tucking the nunchucks into your socks is absurd, but with Wii Fit about to reach the US, a better foot controller alternative is on the way.
Another cool piece of Wii software is Wii Loop Machine (there’s also a video), and if that’s not enough for you, nerdlogger.com has compiled a whole list of “Wiilated software” (coin the phrase people)! For my money, the most innovative use of a Wiimote comes from CS graduate student Johnny Chung Lee.
Mr. Lee (Lii?) works on human-computer interaction at CMU and had access to a bunch of interface software he was able to adapt for use with a Wiimote. In his first video, he explains how the Wiimote’s camera, combined with infrared emitting LEDs, can be used to track the position of one’s finger tips. This in turn can be used to create a multitouch interface that apple would be proud. In his second video, he uses the Wiimote’s camera to track a homemade infrared emitting pen (simply an led it a bic plastic case). Using his pen in conjunction with a projector allows him to create an electronic white board. In his third, and most awe-inspiring video, he uses the Wiimote to track his head position relative to a computer monitor. This allows his software to change the perspective of various 3D images in response to how he’s looking. It’d be hot stuff if someone wrote similar software for the macbook’s built in camera.