Man uses Wii Balance Board to control robot, takes aim at Segway next

It may never garner quite the same broad appeal among DIYers as the incredibly versatile Wiimote, but it looks like the Wii Balance Board is nonetheless spurring on some hackery of its own, including being used as a navigation device for Google Earth and World of Warcraft. While those hacks are certainly impressive enough, the board has only just recently fully earned its DIY cred by being used to control a robot, which you can see in action after the break. What's more, the man responsible for that hack, Juan González, isn't about to rest on his laurels, with him now promising to create a Segway-like device that's controlled simply using the Wii Balance Board. Needless to say, we'll be keeping an eye out for any progress on that one.

Read - Balance Board Blog, "Wii Balance Board used to control robot"
Read - Balance Board Blog, "Man developing Wii Balance Board Segway - Robosurfing"

[Coolmatt49 @ Jun 27th 2008 3:24PM]

R.O.B. 2.0!

[ddub @ Jun 27th 2008 3:31PM]

Nifty!

[lizaoreo @ Jun 27th 2008 3:32PM]

Now to get it big enough to take over the world.

[grull27 @ Jun 27th 2008 3:36PM]

The negro community frowns at your shenanigans!

[grull27 @ Jun 27th 2008 3:37PM]

The video is up. That's awesome!

[Bub @ Jun 27th 2008 3:49PM]

hoho...what is he saying at the end?

[potato @ Jun 27th 2008 4:37PM]

I hope he knows what he's getting into. Controlling a Segway is *very* different than controlling a miniature robot. The latter is a very advanced topic in the field of controls engineering (which is much more complicated and difficult than the title sounds).

I dare say, if he isn't a professional controls engineer by trade (or at least has a degree in it), he likely won't produce anything more than a funny contraption that likes to throw people off :P

[matt @ Jun 27th 2008 4:38PM]

that is pretty neat

[Ayman @ Jun 27th 2008 5:20PM]

Can you do the Chicken Dance?

[jon @ Jun 27th 2008 7:33PM]

hey this is cool

[John @ Jun 27th 2008 7:49PM]

not impressive until he makes it proportionally controlled. Little leaning equals little speed, lot = lot, and then be able to drive curves rather than the military lefts and rights. I did this same kind of stuff as a junior in Mechatronics on a budget of ramen and pizza.