Wii Fit and Arduino bring wooden Labyrinth game to robotic life
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jan 12th 2009 7:56PM
posted Jan 12th 2009 7:56PM
Ah, yes. Nothing like some robotics to shake all that pesky quaintness out of a well-loved, time-tested game. In this case, some folks from the Cowtown Computer Congress used a couple of servos and the ever so useful Arduino to connect a wooden Labyrinth game to a Wii Fit, which appears to up the difficulty of the game while still requiring as little exertion as possible. At just $60 total (not including the Wii Fit), the project is also relatively inexpensive, and it seems that it's a fairly simple process to swap out the Wii Fit for the controller of your choice. Head on past the break for a video of the setup in action, and hit up the link below for the necessary details.
[Thanks, Steve]
[Thanks, Steve]
That's kind of awesome.
This is simply coolness incarnate.
Next!
Thanks Guys but your linkback (steve) is wrong (http://http://www...) ;p
This is so cool it should be illegal. The world can't handle so much awesomeness.
It's neat-o for sure, but if your going to build something like that; wouldn't the hand held motion controllers have been a way better idea?
No, what would have been a better idea would be to create a digital map of the game (*), then place the servo controlled game ON the Wii Fit balance board and make the Wii solve the game using its balance inputs!
(*) Digital map so the Wii would know where the ball was w.r.t holes, etc...
@Freakin ljit
so you mean kinda like the game they already have on wii fit?
Actually, the Wi Fit DOES come with a balance drop-the-balls-thru-holes game but that's what was implemented here; a person needs to balance to guide the ball. I was jokingly suggesting taking what was implemented here and make the Wii itself sense the ball location and solve the maze.
[of course, though the Wii Fit is WAY cool and VERY sensitive, it's not sensitive enough to feel the location of a one centimeter ball bearing on a surface]
@Freakin ljit
That was the first thought I had when I saw the picture!!
Ditto
"or Nerd and dweebs with Servos and a multimeter"...
remeber that the next time you use an eletronic device and think "I wouldn't have this if it weren't for thoose guys"
:D
I don't know about the hand controllers, it would be wierd to play becuase you would be just 1 hand which would be akward, where as who here(guys anyway) doesn't try lean around a corner while playing a racing game?
Holy crap, I used to have that same labyrinth when I was younger. Damn thing took me years to beat the first time, though... although mainly because I was too young to have the hand-eye coordination necessary to work both dials at the same time.
I still have mine up on a shelf somewhere. Sure is tough, particularly that bit when you have to make it roll diagonally between two holes.
Hahaha, I had that same labyrinth too (although I wanted a different version which was a bit more complex; my grade school had it). I used to make the ball jump over the labyrinth walls by twisting the knobs really quick. Good times!
thats kool it must have been hard to finish that thang
Is it just me or is that Wii board backwards? Isn't the light supposed to be on the back of the board?
In response to "Freakin lijit"'s comments about getting the Wii to play the game for you. We are planning a little different direction. We want to attach an accelerometer to the bottom of the board's surface to detect the physical board's movement. Next we want to place a video camera above the game and use motion detection software to track the marble. We just need to learn a few things about computer vision first. That's why we started our OpenCV Study Group http://blog.cowtowncomputercongress.org/?p=120
Here's a link to our original post about the game: http://blog.cowtowncomputercongress.org/?p=153
So check back on our blogs and we'll be updating the progress.
CCCKC - Soon to be broadcasting from our Underground Hackers Lab: http://blog.cowtowncomputercongress.org/?p=70
@SomeoneKnows