Wii nunchuck braves the outdoors to steer electric canoe

While it's not quite the feat that an actual Wiimote-paddled canoe would be (or nearly as silly), this nunchuck-steered contraption is still pretty impressive in its own right, and quite the change in pace from the usual Wiimote-controlled robots. At the heart of the rig is the always-useful Arduino platform, which employs some custom software to control the two electric motors powered by a pair of golf cart batteries, along with some robot servos and a battle bot motor driver. That apparently all adds up to about 6 to 8 hours of cruising time and a leisurely top speed of four miles per hour, not to mention some apparently spot on controls, which you can see in action for yourself in the video after the break.

[Thanks, Yash]

[BradVT @ Jul 29th 2008 3:03PM]

Great proof of concept. Now make a remote controlled jet ski controlled by the nunchuck and I'll be really impressed.

[Mike10010100 @ Jul 29th 2008 3:51PM]

Proof of concept????!!!

This is practically a finished product! I would buy it in a heartbeat if it was less than 500 bucks. (Only the motor setup of course, not the canoe)

Brilliant job, love the Arduino platform. Gotta get me one of those.

[Steve Gates @ Jul 29th 2008 9:33PM]

No - I wanna see him get two and swing them like actual nunchucks - and then watch the boat do flips. Now that would be funny.

[msm @ Jul 29th 2008 3:04PM]

Man, screw wii fit...

[rock99rock @ Jul 29th 2008 3:08PM]

But can it steer the Shuttle?

[John H. @ Jul 29th 2008 3:33PM]

i like the music :) and that is just awesome

[Alex @ Aug 4th 2008 1:51PM]

the song is Brulee by Ratatat, they're amazing

[Don Corleone @ Jul 29th 2008 3:44PM]

This could probably steer anything + perfect for backseat drivers.

[pditty @ Jul 29th 2008 4:03PM]

spray the nunchuck with that waterproofing crap.

[bob.hawkey @ Jul 29th 2008 5:32PM]

OMG - it's the image of Satan on the side of the boat at 2:00 ! Red, horns and all! I KNOW what Satan looks like and that's him!!! Pretty soon people will be gathering around this video.... mark my words.

[Technex @ Jul 29th 2008 6:37PM]

LOL, man you have a good eye!

[neofolklore @ Jul 30th 2008 8:05AM]

i want to respond but i dont have anything constructive to say

[blooy @ Jul 30th 2008 12:06PM]

I saw that too, but it looks like Jesus (we all know what Jesus looked like).

[Mike B @ Jul 29th 2008 7:21PM]

video no longer available.

[Mike B @ Jul 29th 2008 7:22PM]

wait, nm - user error. :P

[Shane @ Jul 29th 2008 9:00PM]

Freaking. Awesome.

[connerisdabomb @ Jul 29th 2008 9:35PM]

wow that guy is really lazy or really odd

[Quicksilver4648 @ Jul 29th 2008 11:24PM]

They need to make something like this for my car. I never felt driving was as "interactive" as it could have been.

[Holger @ Jul 30th 2008 5:04AM]

Hm.. now if they just added a light roof, with solar panels that could charge the thing it would be great... :)

[zeeol @ Jul 30th 2008 1:26PM]

Hmmm... I'd like to see a military boat controlled with the nunchuck with turrets aimed with the wii remote. That would truly be awesome.

[taultor @ Jul 31st 2008 1:28PM]

This person has clearly to much time on his hands. Why do people always try to find out what pointless things they can do with the wiimote haha

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