The Wii's MEMS Inventor on Future Technology

eldavojohn writes "IEEE Spectrum is running an article on the inventor of the motion sensor that the Wii uses. The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) gives Wii its core ability to sense motion in the controller. What's really interesting is where Benedetto Vigna wants to take this technology. He has plans to make the sensor smaller and tougher, and hope to place it inside of things like shoes, textiles, and medical devices to aid in data collection. He continues, 'Then I want to make a three-dimensional gyroscope, to measure rotation around three different axes. Today, such products are quite big, a cube 10 centimeters on a side. We want to do this in less than a 30-millimeter cube, to serve as an image stabilizer in cameras and to track a person's position in the intervals when he can't get a GPS signal.'"

Position tracking?

[wamatt]

How could it be used to track position? I thought the MEMS inside the WII Controller needed constant calibration with the main unit. If you walking around in the forest what is your fixed frame of reference?

Re:This is cool, very cool...

[zappepcs]

Despite your obvious lack of intelligence, I'll explain. If he goes on to develop the 3D Wiimote control sensor, it will make it very cheap to use in other systems. It takes huge volumes to make manufacturing some things become cheap. Right now, its cheaper to buy the Wii and hack it to get the sensor than it is to buy the sensor itself!

What it has to do with the Wii is that the Wii is creating advances, or rather making them available to other people cheaply.

I wonder...

[Mex]

Since they are always imagining "interesting" uses for new technology, I wonder how the porn industry will implement this technology?

There's already adult websites made exclusively for Wii navegation...

Yeah because printing money is old.

[kinglink]

Let's see, DS Lite almost always sold out in Japan. America has a low amount of handhelds that stay on the shelf. Wii is impossible to find in both countries with out a LONG wait outside.

Yeah, they should produce more games because the hype about the system and the titles they already have released and are releasing this year are a amazing. Barren? OH that's right when you compare it to the 360 or Ps3 it's.... wait it's still not barren it just has a lot less of the average crap on it. Yet the games that came out so far are really impressive.

Hmm yeah, Nintendo let's see you crank out the million of lackluster titles the other guys are producing, because I sure rather have a huge boat load of games that all play the same than innovative gameplay. It's obvious your console and handheld isn't already selling on it's own. Come on.

Re:Snake oil technology warning

[kisielk]

Exactly. Canon has been using MEMS based sensors in their image stabilized lenses since the mid 1990s. The technology is nothing new. In fact, one of the professors from my university created the first MEMS accelerometer without moving parts in the late 1990s and commercialized it in 2001: http://www.memsic.com/memsic/news/press_release.as p?itemid=5 [memsic.com]

Re:Nintendo In Hype Overdrive

[Anonymous Coward]

Anonymous Sony Fanboy Troll is the new McDick.