Video: Wiimote controlling a 15-ton grapple

We've seen the Wiimote used to control plenty of wild things, and to be perfectly honest, we're pretty unimpressed with most of what we see these days. This video, however, made by an Australian with a lot of heavy equipment on hand, is truly awesome. The 15-ton grapples themselves are impressive, elegant pieces of machinery, and using Python to link the Wiimote up as controller via Bluetooth is really just icing on the cake. It's got a sweet soundtrack, to boot! Video is after the break.

[Via Slashgear]

[skyblaze @ Jul 8th 2009 5:48PM]

gah damn, thats overkill

[OneLove @ Jul 8th 2009 6:15PM]

hes wearing his little brothers tee-shirt.

[neal @ Jul 8th 2009 6:43PM]

not very responsive.. Kinna like the wii-mote anyway.... :P

[wack @ Jul 8th 2009 7:06PM]

its like he's compensating for something...

[Tony Rayo @ Jul 9th 2009 1:49AM]

I think the guy looks a little bit like Johnny Knoxville to me.

[KGB @ Jul 8th 2009 5:50PM]

Im not impressed.

[Morten @ Jul 8th 2009 6:16PM]

Me neither. Quite boring actually. Make no mistakes i did like the grapples but the fact that they where controller by wiimotes seemed lame and gimmicky to me. I dont really see the purpose

[AltairAntares @ Jul 8th 2009 6:50PM]

It's not the fact that they did it, it's the fact of what they're doing with it.

[KGB @ Jul 8th 2009 7:20PM]

@AltairAntares

When some one flies F-35 with Wii remote, then ill be impressed. Till then i dont care what they do with it, let alone flush a toilet. Whats next.. changing channels on your grandmas TV?

[Cy Starkman @ Jul 8th 2009 10:45PM]

How could you not be impressed?

The grapple is cool, controlling it remotely is cool, using a $79AUD controller is cool, coding it would have been cool.

It's got tonnes of cool, 15 I believe. I would like to see what they do with a MotionPlus.

You mob are so jaded in your armchair nerd1ness, its like listening to an arm chair military expert sprouting crud about what some solider should do on the TV while they guzzle beer and have never left the house.

[Zac @ Jul 8th 2009 10:59PM]

Hahaha, I agree with you Starkman. Controlling a massive piece of machinery with a videogame controller is awesome. I bet if it was a NES controller, these people would be all over it.

[Rekit @ Jul 8th 2009 5:51PM]

Only in Australia, ladies & germs!

[kjb434 @ Jul 8th 2009 6:15PM]

Yeah, the closest thing to the real US since BHO took over as dictator.

[loosely_coupled @ Jul 11th 2009 3:28PM]

Dictator? Come on now, that just makes you look stupid and ignorant. Pres Obama bails out GM and tries to fix the economy with new financial regulations, and all these idiot wingnuts come out of the woodwork calling him a dictator and pushing for "fascism".

Yet, the Bush admin shreds the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and a dozen international treaties, and he's "protecting" the citizens.The bush Admin was the most corrupt, abusive, defiant, unconstitutional administration in the history of this country.

- They manipulated intelligence and the media to start a preemptive war.
- They created an illegal, unconstitutional, wiretap dragnet of American citizens
- They ran an illegal program of extraordinary rendition to secret prisons in countries that torture
- They setup an extrajudicial, legal-black-hole of Guantuanamo bay, held in detention anyone "suspected of terrorism" and revoked their right to a trial or habeus corpus, holding them indefinitely.
- They created an implicit *wink wink* environment for torture and mistreatment of all detainees, not just "hardened terrorists".
- They undermined congressional legislation by the unconstitutional abuse of presidential signing statements
- They routinely stonewalled congressional and judicial oversight, and legally blocked any inquiry from outside of the white house, operating akin to a secretive, stalinist regime.
- They instituted secret "emergency" powers whereby the executive branch can declare a "state emergency" and suspend the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom against unlawful search and seizure.
- They abused the state secrets privilege to circumvent congressional and judicial oversight and to conceal illegal programs.
- They leaked highly classified information to the media in retribution to their critics.

[trevor @ Jul 8th 2009 5:52PM]

i would give up a month of salary to see someone get bitch-slapped by one of those grapples at 72kph

[3rdsun @ Jul 8th 2009 7:57PM]

I would like to see them controlled by Natal. no controller needed

[DiGiC @ Jul 8th 2009 5:53PM]

Made of Wii (-n)!!!

[Ben @ Jul 8th 2009 5:55PM]

Surely that could be fake...

[Ghen @ Jul 9th 2009 9:14AM]

Have you ever programmed a wiimote via bluetooth? Its so incredibly simple. It would probably be just as hard to fake the timing between wiimote and grapple controller as it would be to just program the wiimote mapped to the keyboard / joystick / whatever else they use to control the grapples.

[Alex @ Jul 8th 2009 5:55PM]

Apply to robotic weaponry plz.

[Templarian @ Jul 8th 2009 5:55PM]

"So I'm thinking about buying one of these for my business, but I'm just not sure if we need it"
"Did I mention it can be controlled by a wiimote"
"Sold!"

Would have been nice to see them fight each other.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jul 8th 2009 6:04PM]

Robot Arm Wrestling!

[Tomheivers @ Jul 8th 2009 6:01PM]

"What does this button d..."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

[Jon @ Jul 8th 2009 6:14PM]

I totally want to make a giant claw machine game with one of these. Pay $1,000 and win a car!*

*Some damage may occur to cars during play.

[Dayne @ Jul 8th 2009 6:14PM]

Rule No. 1: Never let a guy in a Mossimo shirt operate a crane.

[bhawk1 @ Jul 9th 2009 10:13AM]

Using a Wiimote to operate a crane: the first viable case for MotionPlus.

[dodo @ Jul 8th 2009 6:35PM]

What if he had dropped the Wiimote?! :)

[yokel @ Jul 8th 2009 7:51PM]

OH. MY. GOD.

[DaveyNC @ Jul 8th 2009 6:34PM]

Why do they point the Wiimote at the grapples? Looks fun, though. I'd like to see that baby rev up to 72kph and then throw something like a coke machine. Have distance competitions.

[ED @ Jul 8th 2009 7:00PM]

When this baby hits 88 mph...

[Grumpy old man @ Jul 8th 2009 6:52PM]

I would LOVE to see him spaz out and toss THAT through his TV playing Wii Sports!

[ED @ Jul 8th 2009 7:02PM]

just don't type:
from __future__ import Skynet

[the real Brad @ Jul 8th 2009 7:02PM]

So lemme get this straight: Engadget worries about cute little robots helping old grammas and thinks the robots will take over the world, but hey, here's a guy with a freaking clawed machine that's 15 tons... how cute!

[Rebajas @ Jul 8th 2009 7:07PM]

"...lame and gimmicky..."

I'm sure this isn't meant as a serious implementation; besides, most of the gadgets I see these days are 'lame and gimmicky' - that's part of their appeal :)

[Rebajas @ Jul 8th 2009 7:08PM]

FFS... :(

Meant to reply to Morten in 2nd post...

[Doc @ Jul 8th 2009 7:16PM]

LOL

[romandolven @ Jul 8th 2009 7:33PM]

l

[CaptCaveman @ Jul 8th 2009 8:51PM]

Actually this is the prototype for the new Wii Gyromite.

[Agent .25i @ Jul 8th 2009 9:49PM]

You know this guys equipment and personnel insurance just quadrupled itself...

[keeny76 @ Jul 8th 2009 10:09PM]

really .. what happens if he tosses the WII to his co-worker / really drops it? I mean we're talkin bout a 15 tonne machine feeling the after-effects here..

[JohnTech @ Jul 10th 2009 1:27AM]

The sensor is only used to put a cursor on the screen, not the actual movement of the wiimote. So if they tilt the wiimote they dont need a inferred sensor because they are not pointing.

[Str1ker @ Jul 9th 2009 1:32AM]

I'm more impressed by how fast those things spin!

Oh, and yeah this is fake BTW.

[Anonymous @ Jul 9th 2009 2:20AM]

Rofl you nub. I work with them. It's not fake ^_-

[Str1ker @ Jul 9th 2009 3:05AM]

Your fake :P

[Anonymous @ Jul 9th 2009 9:21AM]

You're grammar sucks. :P

[Justin @ Jul 9th 2009 11:20AM]

I see what you did there!

[Serikiito @ Jul 9th 2009 5:43AM]

What they should have done is put a Wii remote on the grapple. Then controlled the grapple with the other Wii remote, to play a game on the Wii. Mass mind fuck ftw!

[Justin @ Jul 9th 2009 11:22AM]

I'm just thinking about the first case of "oh shit I dropped it!". If I'm playing Super Mario Galaxy and I drop the Wiimote, Mario spins funny, maybe a Goomba kills him. If I'm controlling a crane via Wiimote, it smashes through a building and kills someone.

[Michael @ Jul 9th 2009 3:07PM]

I'LL SAVE YOU BROTHERRR!!!

[recharged95 @ Jul 9th 2009 8:02PM]

looks like a great NOVEL demo.

Now put a person under that grapple and see how well that wii mote works. Well, actually, see if you can get anyone to stand under it...