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Hardware Hacking Wii

Head Tracking w/ the Wiimote 169

Posted by CmdrTaco from the this-is-just-too-cool dept.
mrneutron2003 writes "This guy just doesn't know when to stop. Johnny Chung Lee graces us with yet another one of his inventive Wiimote projects. This time it involves using the Wiimote and a pair of inexpensive LED safety goggles (with the standard LED's replaced with InfraRed ones) to allow positional head tracking , achieving an effect similar to what is experienced with three dimensional displays and CAVE systems. The video dramatically illustrates the effect. Game developers take note. This simple little variation on infrared tracking could allow for some seriously immersive gameplay in the future." This guy deserves a medal.
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Head Tracking w/ the Wiimote More

Head Tracking w/ the Wiimote

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  • Nintendo! Hire Johnny Lee! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LoudMusic ( 199347 ) * on Sunday December 23, 2007 @10:16AM (#21797940)
    Surely he's sent in his resume. That's some really cool concepting, and not that Nintendo doesn't have their own cool concepts, but this is just incredible. The best part is, it's really simple and appears to be mass producible for cheap - two things Nintendo does well already.

    • Re:Nintendo! Hire Johnny Lee! (Score:5, Funny)

      by deftones_325 ( 1159693 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @10:20AM (#21797964)
      I'm not so sure about the mass-produce part.

      • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        No, cloning technology is getting much more affordable. Just get a couple of skin cells from his cheeks and you be mass producing Johnny in no time.

    • The best part is, it's really simple and appears to be mass producible for cheap - two things Nintendo does well already.
      Yeah, and what companies usually look for in employees -- ways to come up with the cool, simple things that have some use. It's usually harder than one can imagine and why we haven't had vids on this on YouTube before. I think he ranks above many Nintendo people already. :-)

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by CastrTroy ( 595695 )
        Just because Nintendo hasn't created a product for the mass market doesn't mean that nobody at Nintendo has thought of it yet. Here's some other ideas for the Wii. A hard drive, or a keyboard for the browser. Those are the first things I thought of when I first got my Wii. From what I understand, you can use a USB keyboard on the Wii menu now, and they are in talks with a USB driver maker to get USB hard drives working. However at release, they didn't have any of this. Did we all think we where geniuse

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Opportunist ( 166417 )
          If so, some PR guys should be fired.

          Keyboards on consoles ain't news. That's about as stale as a Sega Mega Drive. Not to mention that people would most likely rather use a "normal" computer for browsing the web.

          This is a new feature. Brand new. And doesn't need any additional gadgets or any new developments. At the very least, Nintendo should have had something like that demo in its standard applications to show it off and leave the customer dreaming of games that make use of it.
    • So you think they should markety this.

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      i look to the right and the game view looks to the right?

      Only problem now is that i can't see the TV

      • Re:Nintendo! Hire Johnny Lee! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by LoudMusic ( 199347 ) * on Sunday December 23, 2007 @11:50AM (#21798516)

        i look to the right and the game view looks to the right?

        Only problem now is that i can't see the TV
        You need a bigger TV ...

        And besides, it's not what direction you're looking, it's what direction you're looking from. Move your whole body to the right while continuing to look at the TV and the display on the TV changes perspective. Not to mention depth of field, and distance from the TV. Did you even watch the video?

        Why am I even responding to an AC comment?
        • Makes for a very cool demo, but doesn't seem too useful for video games (or normal TV watching for that matter).

    • Re:Nintendo! Hire Johnny Lee! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @12:27PM (#21798774) Journal

      Surely he's sent in his resume. That's some really cool concepting, and not that Nintendo doesn't have their own cool concepts, but this is just incredible.
      Not to harsh your buzz, but there is a reason head tracking systems are not widely popular for gaming.

      The PC Gaming landscape is littered with failed head-tracking systems. The reviews inevitably say something like "this thing is awesome, but fatiguing."

      There are eye-tracking systems that are not nearly as fatiguing, but if you've seen one, you'll understand why they haven't taken off in popularity.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by cheater512 ( 783349 )
        It just needs to be done properly.

        If you talked about putting a accelerometer in to a controller before the Wii, you'd be laughed at.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by jkoke ( 1112287 )
        The Wii appeals to people who wouldn't touch PC games, and given the physique of the typical PC gamer, I can see why it would be "fatiguing" -- I imagine most PC gamers, even if they have a Wii, aren't standing up to play it because that would be fatiguing too.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Dr_Barnowl ( 709838 )
        I think this is less of an issue with the Wii because the input device moves with you. With the PC you are craning your neck while you keep your hands on the keyboard. With the Wii, it's almost difficult NOT to move the input device in sympathy with what you're doing onscreen.

        • Re:Nintendo! Hire Johnny Lee! (Score:5, Insightful)

          by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @06:30PM (#21801212) Journal

          I think this is less of an issue with the Wii because the input device moves with you.
          The issue has nothing to do with the input device moving and everything to do with the output device (your monitor/tv) not moving.

          If you're perfectly perpendicular to your monitor, there is limited arc of motion that your head can make before the monitor is out of your direct line of sight and into your peripheral vision. This artificially limits what you can do in a game and is why head tracking systems have not replaced traditional controls for looking along the X & Y axis.

          I'm not saying there is no role for this in gaming, I think it would be great if Nintendo could make it cheaply for the Wii and developers created games that could use it effectively... but that has been tried before in PCs... without much success.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fbjon ( 692006 )

            This artificially limits what you can do in a game and is why head tracking systems have not replaced traditional controls for looking along the X & Y axis.

            TrackIR has solved the problem by having a small range of motion translate into a larger range in-game. Now, for FSP-like purposes, like in the video I don't think it'd matter. The headtracking is useful for controlling leaning, such as around corners, and most importantly it will give a sense of immersion, regardless of how much range of control you have. Regular movement is still best controlled by the nunchuk + Wii, with headtracking simply adding on to that.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Kelbear ( 870538 )
              Actually, if you map it to an x/y grid of acceleration speeds like analog sticks on the other 2 consoles(Obviously a deadzone in the center will be necessary), you now have a means for Wii-FPS games to seperate the perspective shifting from the aiming. It's something they lack and it severely hampers the control the player has.

              A major advantage the Wii has over the other consoles is the discrete aiming of the wii-mote that matches with the discrete aiming of the mouse. Analog sticks work on acceleration whi
          • I think this is an example of something that would just work better on a console than a pc. With a pc you're generally sitting very close to the monitor. With a console you sit (or stand) further back and tend to look at a bigger screen. With the tv from where I normally sit I can move my head quite a bit while keeping the screen still within my line of site.
    • This guy deserves a medal.

      I guess he'll have to settle for a PhD from Carnegie Mellon instead.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Lerc ( 71477 )
      If Nintendo hired him they would patent anything he creates.

      How about people just send him some money so he'll keep doing what he's doing and make it free?
    • An I the only one who thought of this when I read the title:

      http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/wiihelm.shtml [thinkgeek.com]

  • video down (Score:5, Informative)

    by Takichi ( 1053302 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @10:18AM (#21797952)
    The youtube video on the linked site comes up as unavailable, but the one actually on the youtube site seems to work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw [youtube.com] Cool stuff.

  • DUDE (Score:2)

    by tgd ( 2822 )
    That is freakin COOL.

    I can only imagine what something that that, coupled with a graphics engine like Assassin's Creed has would do for immersive gaming.

    • Since this involves glasses with LEDs mounted on the sides, I'd love to see this combined with the various [wikipedia.org] glasses [wikipedia.org] out there for stereoscopy [wikipedia.org].

      Polarized filters and LCD shutters aren't anything new, and I'm sure they've been combined with head tracking before... But I don't think it's ever been quite as accessible as it is now. Stereoscopy + head tracking + a pointing device like the Wii remote could make for one hell of game.
      • Why not just use 2 wiimotes, so they can see in 3D, just like people do.

      • Polarized light not compatible with LCD (Score:5, Informative)

        by Dr_Barnowl ( 709838 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @02:50PM (#21799712)
        Alas, shutter glasses(a polarized screen with an LCD shutter) and cross-polarized glasses don't play with LCD displays, because LCD uses polarization to turn the pixels on and off. LCD latencies are also a little high for shutter glasses.

        They only work with DLP projectors (uses little mirrors), CRTs, plasma, and upcoming display technologies like Field Effect Displays and LED displays. Obviously there are a lot of display technologies that do work there, but LCD is a very popular technology for widescreen TV and of course, for PC monitors.

        Either way you do it, you also have to double the grunt of your rendering system (or half your graphical complexity), and you need specific software support to get it right (you can go a long way with a driver that knows it's rendering for stereoscopy and just produces the correct eye POVs, but the glitches you get in the foreground and HUD are only tolerated by enthusiasts.). With shuttering you need glasses. With cross polarization you need to double the number of display elements (by having two displays or a special display with double the horizontal resolutions). Used in POV applications, all of these technologies are a one-user gig.

        Stereo "Wii-D" will probably never happen ; half the audience have an incompatible display device, the system does not have an enormous excess of GPU grunt. Stereo3D would only be common with one of the following display devices...

          * Personal head-mounted 3D display (probably VRD goggles)
          * Large area wide aspect flatpanel displays with inherent stereo 3D support built in at the factory (which means basically doubling the vertical rez and making a special polarized filter for the screen). ... an no-one is going to build the latter until there are plenty of mainstream 3D apps to support the market.

        The parallax effect that Johnny Lee demonstrates conveniently exploits the tendency of the human brain to "fill in the gaps" ; I'd be intrigued to see how convincing it really is.

        As another poster points out, head tracking really isn't very well received for the PC, because the PC is an inherently static device. You can move your head, but your hands have to remain fixated on the keyboard / mouse. The Wii has an advantage here because the input device moves around with you. Several times during Zelda I got up from my chair and started moving almost involuntarily, my whole body was immersed in the game. I would never have tried that on the PC ; when I feel the urge there it probably just contributes to my neck tension.

        If the static, 3rd person POV of Zelda can make this gamer rise up and move, a game armed with a head tracking linked POV would be compulsively immersive, even without stereoscopic 3D.

  • Muppets? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by AsnFkr ( 545033 )
    Is it just me (and my girlfriend), or does this guy sound a lot like Kermit the Frog?


    Also, the head tracking is awesome.

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by morgan_greywolf ( 835522 )

      Is it just me (and my girlfriend), or does this guy sound a lot like Kermit the Frog?
      Wait...you have a girlfriend?!

    • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by pimpimpim ( 811140 )
      No he doesn't. As a non-american I've heard much worse accents than that. His presentation is very professional and comfortable to watch. So that makes me wonder, how the .... do you think you sound? If you sound like you write, it'll probably be dick-headed. This may sound harsh, but I think that's appropriate in this case.

      As for the projects he's doing, you're right, it's awesome. Even watching the youtube video of the headtracking gives you the feeling that you were watching a 3D effect, I wonder how i

  • A similar system is used in the Apache attack helicopter to aim its 30mm chain gun wherever the gunner turns his head.

    The Wiimote is truly the ultimate hackable peripheral...

  • The Wiimote can only track four IR sources at the same time, which seems a fairly arbitrary limitation that should be trivial to lift. With the IR light sources uniquely identified through signals encoded in the light stream, many more could be tracked. Shouldn't Nintendo upgrade the Wiimote quicky to allow for tons of new applications?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by bipolarpinguino ( 944613 )
      from my understanding, the limit is imposed by the bandwidth-per-point transmitted over bluetooth, and not the onboard image processing on the wiimote.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by LiquidCoooled ( 634315 )
        Nahhhhh bandwidth isn't that limited.
        Remember the core wiimote can handle an additional nunchuck or the classic controller, each of which requires more data than the small amount of data per frame required.

        If Nintendo wanted to do this anyway I believe they would use a custom device with its own interface (and would almost certainly retain the power connection the current sensor bar uses).
        There has been rumour that the next wii will be controller less, people simply acting out the actions to get results.
        Thi

  • Worth mentioning.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by delire ( 809063 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @10:41AM (#21798090)
    Headtracking for games has been around for a long time [naturalpoint.com] but this solution really takes the cake for using inexpensive, off the shelf technology..

    The TrackIR solution linked above costs around as much as a Wii itself.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by usrusr ( 654450 )
      Just take a look at http://free-track.net./ [free-track.net.]

      This little software feeds the TrackIR interface from a cheap webcam. Since it doesn't use a Wii it won't make you more attractive to the gender that you prefer being attractive to, but then you get full six degrees of freedom, which a Wii sensor bar can't do (it has only two points to track). Only trouble is the weak framerate most webcams have, and horrible webcam drivers that can suck away a considerable amount of CPU time.
      • Of course there's that competitor to Nintendo with the 120Hz webcam for its system [playstation.com], but I'm sure that doesn't count since its not hackable yet for this type of use.

        Note that its "capable of capturing standard video with frame rates of 60 hertz at a 640x480 pixel resolution, and 120 hertz at 320x240 pixels" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Eye [wikipedia.org]).
  • Unless nintendo (being the intuitive ((not a fan boy)) people they are) have already thought about this and are just waiting a while to release a title that you can use this functionality in.

    Of course, having a 42" plasma or larger is going to be the optimal thing here - and since the wii is priced to sell, then a lot of people are going to be using them on their old 1980's 27inch CRT's.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Skynyrd ( 25155 )
      a lot of people are going to be using them on their old 1980's 27inch CRT's.

      Insensitive clod, I bought mine in the 90's!

  • Cool ... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I think this is cool as can be and all. I even think writing this software is a pretty awesome accomplishment. But we have had head tracking systems for a while now. It is only now that the components have become a commodity. Nintendo's Wiimote is just the beginning of decades old technology making it out of the lab and into Walmart.

  • Fantastic (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tom ( 822 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @10:53AM (#21798158) Homepage Journal
    Between those things and multi-touch, I am literally waiting for a revolution of computer input design. 10 years ago, there was the movement, but not the technology. Today we have the technology. Please, give us some games that use this, give us multitouch tablet Macs (sorry windos fanboys, microsoft could pull it off technologically, but it wouldn't be useable), give me a VR multitouch table! Now! The flying car can wait until next year...

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Yvanhoe ( 564877 )
      iTouch and iPhone have multitouch capabilities already.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tom ( 822 )
        Yes, I know. I happen to own an iPhone.

        The multitouch is fantastic, and at the same time still limited. If you have seen the original multitouch video then you know that there is incredible potential with that technology, way beyond what the iPhone does.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SETIGuy ( 33768 )

      Please, give us some games that use this
      Every PC flight simulator shipped in the last 3 years supports at least 2 axis head tracking systems, and some support the full 6 axis systems. It's gotten to the point where everyone playing multiplayer combat flight simulators uses a TrackIR system.
    • "give us multitouch tablet Macs (sorry windos fanboys, microsoft could pull it off technologically, but it wouldn't be useable)"

      Actually, Microsoft have been developing a multitouch screen, not the coffee table thing with multiple cameras looking at it, but one for laptops by using infra-red LEDs & sensors embedded in the back of the LCD screen. It was shown in the recent episode of The Gadget Show.
      More info at Engadget [engadget.com]

  • Better than a medal (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cheebie ( 459397 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @11:00AM (#21798182)
    Give this man a consulting job!!!

    Nintendo, are you listening?

  • Editors need to edit. (Score:5, Informative)

    by imboboage0 ( 876812 ) <imboboage0@gmail.com> on Sunday December 23, 2007 @11:04AM (#21798204) Homepage
    from the this-is-just-to-cool dept.

    You spelled 'too' wrong.
  • Does the Wii have enough horsepower to pull this off on its own? The demo was running on his PC, and I'm curious how processor intensive something like this would be.
    • It looks like most of the processing is being done by the remote itself, so I'd guess that all the PC is doing is processing co-ordinates for a couple of moving points.
      • Well, doesn't whatever system you are using have to re render the entire "room" everytime the head changes position? Although, I guess this is really no different than having real time control of the "camera" in a game, which has been done since N64, so perhaps it will work just fine.

        • Re:processing power (Score:5, Interesting)

          by cowscows ( 103644 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @11:29AM (#21798390) Journal
          Correct. As far as the rendering engine is concerned, whether you're moving the camera with your head or a mouse, it's all pretty much the same. This guy is probably using a PC instead of the Wii because it's much easier to get code running on a PC than a Wii (you don't need Nintendo's SDK), which makes it cheaper and more useful to share the code with others.

    • Re:processing power (Score:5, Interesting)

      by datajack ( 17285 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @11:21AM (#21798314)
      Not very.

      Not to trivialise what Johnny is doing there is basically measuring the position of the wiimote in relation to the sensor bar - something it already does. The code to do this shouldn't be that difficult. The true genius was in him realising that you could do this easiest by reversing the moving component and the stationary component.

      Apart from some smoothing algorithms, this is no more complex than reading the wiimote's pointer position and mapping that to a camera viewpoint.

      • Re:processing power (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Tom ( 822 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @12:07PM (#21798634) Homepage Journal
        Which is the whole beauty of it! The second thing I thought when watching the video was whether I could possible create a small game around that concept (I'm a hobbyist game developer).

        It's so simple that you can do something with it, without having to wait for IBM, or Nintendo or any other big-$$$ company to bring out the relevant hardware in maybe 5 years.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Aladrin ( 926209 )
          I'm an almost-hobbyist (time constraints, ugh!) game developer and I've already thought of 2 games I want to play since I saw the video this morning. I usually suck at ideas. This this is ripe for the plucking.
        • Interestingly, it's seems very similar to the concept of the Wii Zapper (albeit even more creative), in that it's essentially a configuration modification of existing technology.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Remote#Wii_Zapper [wikipedia.org]

          More importantly, that technology base is now commodotized and available with every single Wii sold. It would be very different if this were being done with more specialized hardware which only a small percentage of customers bought optionally. The exciting thing about these demons

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by CODiNE ( 27417 )
        That's what I was thinking, just strap the wiimote to the head and flip the numbers around a little to do the same thing. No need for special hardware that will end up like the power glove, used in 2 games and then collecting dust.

        Plus we can yell out "Yo mamma wears a wiimote with a chinstrap!!"

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by datajack ( 17285 )
          Starpping a wiimote to the head is a) haver than two leds and b) opens up the user to a whole menagerie of xxx-head jokes.

      • Re:processing power (Score:4, Insightful)

        by perbu ( 624267 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @02:48PM (#21799704)
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus [wikipedia.org] P.

  • Remind me again... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Hawthorne01 ( 575586 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @11:20AM (#21798302)
    Why the Wii isn't for "serious" gamers? Who needs 1080p when you've got this?

    Combine this with the weight-shifting capability of the Fit, and you've got an immersive gaming experience that's second only to the holodeck.

    So. Freaking. Cool.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by grumbel ( 592662 )
      ### Why the Wii isn't for "serious" gamers?

      Just because somebody does cool stuff with a Wiimote on a *PC* doesn't mean you will *ever* see something like this on the Wii. Remember this is homebrew stuff, not 'cool new games' that Nintendo will be releasing next year. The issue isn't that you couldn't have fun with the Wii, but that Nintendo really doesn't release much interesting stuff.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Toonol ( 1057698 )
        The issue isn't that you couldn't have fun with the Wii, but that Nintendo really doesn't release much interesting stuff.

        Really? I think the Wii is dominating this generation because they're the only company that did do something interesting.
  • when you turn your head to look at something in an appache, the machine gun follows. When you turn your head and the Wii follows....You're not looking at the screen anymore. I tried the wii at a best buy and I almost threw it through a wall. I don't know if it was broken or what, but it sure was a pita to get it to do anything.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by deniable ( 76198 )
      The IR sensor in the Wiimote can be affected by bright lights or sun. What was the lighting like when you test it? We usually close the curtains behind us and everything works fine.

  • It's been done. Remember the Nintendo PowerGlove [wikipedia.org]?

    Incidentally, if you've never tried gloves-and-goggles VR, it's cool for about ten minutes. Trying to do things by making gestures in the air is a huge pain. Without tactile feedback, it's tiring and inaccurate. I tried most of the VR systems in the first round, including Jaron Lainer's original system. No good.

    It might not suck if the system had an end to end lag of under 10ms. "Turn head, wait for view to catch up" systems drive the user nuts. T

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mblase ( 200735 )
      Trying to do things by making gestures in the air is a huge pain. Without tactile feedback, it's tiring and inaccurate.

      Apple confronted this with the iPhone touch screen, IIRC, and solved it by having the phone vibrate ever so briefly when a touch was registered. This gave the sensory impression of a button clicking without actually doing so.

      I don't see why a developer couldn't do something like this with VR gloves, then. Using JLC's approach, you'd have "Minority Report"-style gloves that had infrared ref
  • Looks like some competition for the TrackIR.

    http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/ [naturalpoint.com]

  • Johnny Lee Rocks! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gwait ( 179005 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @12:25PM (#21798766)
    What is interesting is that he's coming up with some very creative ideas, and giving them away for free.

    This will likely spur an avalanche of Wii hacks, and could easily cause wiimote sales to go thru the roof..

    I'm totally enjoying the adventure Johnny!

  • Combinations? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by AntiPasto ( 168263 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @01:34PM (#21799196) Journal
    How about three WII remotes together... you'd have a virtual room you could write on and move things around with your fingers?

  • You don't need a Wii or the remote. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by drgould ( 24404 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @01:40PM (#21799228)
    As I understand it, the infrared detector on the Wii remote is basically a camera with an IR filter in front of it.

    Potentially you could just use a webcam with an IR filter in front of it instead of a Wii remote.

    Note: 1) there is usually a filter to filter out IR inside most webcams, so that would have to be removed. 2) IR emitter tracking would have to be done on the PC instead of inside the Wii remote.

    • Re:You don't need a Wii or the remote. (Score:4, Informative)

      by emilng ( 641557 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @02:09PM (#21799446)
      From his website [cmu.edu]:

      As of September 2007, Nintendo has sold over 13 million Wii game consoles. This significatnly exceeds the number of Tablet PCs in use today according to even the most generous estimates of Tablet PC sales. This makes the Wii Remote one of the most common computer input devices in the world. It also happens to be one of the most sophisticated. It contains a 1024x768 infrared camera with built-in hardware blob tracking of up to 4 points at 100Hz. This significantly out performs any PC "webcam" available today. It also contains a +/-3g 8-bit 3-axis accelerometer also operating at 100Hz and an expandsion port for even more capability.
      • While the camera's pretty neat, but I can think of a few simple improvements:
        * It would have been nice to provide the raw camera data on request, unless it would cost more bandwidth than bluetooth has available. It's something of a happy accident that the Wiimote applies a blob tracker pretransmission (presumably to save bandwidth / power).
        * 8 bits is a bit small for a accelerometer. At 12 bits, you can quadruple the precision and the range. The chip they went with was probably chosen because it's cheap, an

  • HOLY SHIT (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Buzz_Litebeer ( 539463 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @02:55PM (#21799746) Journal
    Holy shit that was awesome, why is this guy not employed somewhere they can give hive lots of money? If I were in a gaming department for the next XBOX360 flight game or something, I would hire this dude and give him as much money as he needed to make potential customers feel as if they were inside a frigging airplane lol man that was sweet looking.

  • Why just limit this to games? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Buzz_Litebeer ( 539463 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @03:02PM (#21799794) Journal
    Just thought of this. This would be a wicked interface, and much more natural, for someone piloting a drone helicopter or even robotic vehicle.

    If you had several monitors, this could be used to make them feel as if they were an actual "pilots seat" of a vehicle giving perfect perspective to the "pilot" because they know where the head is oriented and each monitor could produce the proper peripheral and image views for the "pilot"

    It would take a little tricky camera work for the robotic vehicle, but I am sure gratuitous funding could solve those problems.
    • Read up on the black bag head position tracking systems for helicopters.

      These things already exist for military application, but its still neat to do it at home.
  • Why does he always use a wiimote for this? A couple of years ago, i build a basic minority-report-like-wave-your-hand-in-front-of-the-screen UI with a webcam, an IR-LED and a infrared filter in front of the webcam (i simply used the dark-red looking plastic that usually covers the transmitting LED in a regular remote control). I then simply pulled the images from the webcam using some v4l-utility, and ran some (extremly basic) pattern-recognition in perl to detect the white 'dot' that represents the IR-LED

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Ithil_Mith ( 930174 )
      I've also used webcams as input to capture motion and patterns, the biggest problem with this solution is the refresh rate, which sucks. On the contrary, the wiimote has a much faster refresh rate, which gives you a smoother reponse improving the usability. Citing to Chung Lee ..."It contains a 1024x768 infrared camera with built-in hardware blob tracking of up to 4 points at 100Hz. This significantly out performs any PC "webcam" available today."...

  • Split Screen? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Woogiemonger ( 628172 ) on Sunday December 23, 2007 @03:27PM (#21799962)
    He says this is only good for one player at a time.. if the Wii remote was able to map other colors to other players, it'd be able to handle different players for each window in a split-screen game, no?
    • The Wiimote can track four points at a time. His system only requires two points so it should be able to support a second player as it is.
  • All these things are awesome. I can only imagine how amazing this particular hack would be if you modified Metroid Prime 3 to track the player's head. It would just be too amazing. And the next time I have to give a presentation on something I'm definantly using the lightpen/wiimote touch display thing.
  • Homeboy sounds like Ray Romano or someone maybe doing an impression of Ray Romano. I bet that could be worked into a marketing strategy, considering who's playing Wii these days :)
  • Anyone who's been to an arcade in the last few years has seen atleast either Police 911, or MoCap Boxing. both games use similar tech with out the need for special sensors to detect the body(mocap boxing uses special gloves to detect the location of your fists though).

    It's neat, but, big deal.
  • I just released some of my code I was playing around with this summer
    it allows for very similar things.
    you can find the code here http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/4920 [dzone.com]

    be warned, it has no documentation and its really messy.

    the included demo is able to track and plot the movement of multiple IR emitters. I have other demos as well like "swing" detections (ie. swinging motions). A more elaborate hack involved using a wireless mouse+LED to simulate a wiimote experience (moving around the mousepointer and c
  • While much of this guy's latest stuff has been cool in a fun toy sort of way, it doesn't really do anything to cover any actual interaction beyond cursor movement. What this still needs, is an easily configurable method of generating different types of mouse clicks and scrolling to accompany the IR tracking. While he could just go back to using the Wii Remote normally, it just wouldn't be hacker worthy.

    So, I've been thinking... how do you address the click/scroll stuff and the position tracking, all using o

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