Taking a more passive approach with the Wii remote than, say, operating a 15-ton grapple or saving your friends on Tatooine, a team of biomedical engineering undergraduates at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have been developing a companion CPR training program. Using the controller's built-in accelerometer, it tracks hand position as you practice those vital life-saving maneuverings, charting depth and rate of compression to give you a more accurate performance reading than the conventional Resusci Anne mannequin. The American Heart Association is sure impressed: it just pledged a $50,000 fund to UAB for the continuation of the project. The software's expected to be complete early fall 2009, with an open source download being released on the AHA website. No telling what these crazy kids'll accomplish once MotionPlus gets its time to shine.
project natal is invative because its the frist of its kind (stereoscopic camera with 3d tracking technology) but all there using the wii mote for is just the accelerometer, and accelerometer don't cost a lot (wii mote is a little over priced just like the wii it self)
They're probably just running Windows in virtualization anyway. It's way more practical to maintain a development or a stable production environment this way.
Yeah this was a new usage ... but man they keep using for all kinds of stuff and less and less for games, sorta like my wii sitting at home, except for the it getting used for stuff part
I don't know a Mac owner that doesn't have either VMWare Fusion, Parallells or VirtualBox installed. I run Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (simultaneously) on all of my Macs/PCs. Don't you?
As a paramedic and as a gamer its a great idea. A lot of people have no idea how hard you have to push to accomplish anything. Now just add some sound effects of ribs cracking and force feed back and your all set. Now only if it would do CPR.
This is neat, but of no real value. There are MUCH better things to spend $50,000 on than this. A good trainer is worth much more than a wiimote based system. It's not that hard to do CPR, you simply have to pay attention to what you're doing.
Not only does Alabama have a university, but UAB gets about $500 million a year in research grants. Or in terms a Brit might understand, about $44 million more than the $456 million you get when you convert Oxford's 285 million pounds to dollars.
I'm sitting in the living room of one of the guys who developed that software (James McKee). I knew he was in Newsweek... But I didn't know he was on Engadget! Awesome.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
posted Jul 15th 2009 8:19PM
I always knew the Wii would save lives.
Just make sure you follow the Wii instructions to give CPR on the floor and not the bed. Look what happene to me
-Michael Jackson.
Take that Microsoft, and take Project Anal up your ass. At least Nintendo is being innovative.
=/
project natal is invative because its the frist of its kind (stereoscopic camera with 3d tracking technology) but all there using the wii mote for is just the accelerometer, and accelerometer don't cost a lot (wii mote is a little over priced just like the wii it self)
=/ indeed.
Microsoft's unreleased product sure is being beaten by innovation not being harnessed by Nintendo.
Nintendo isn't doing this.
Need to say something smart about the macbook-running-windows..... aaaaaa lost it.
"the Mac is the greatest PC eva"
BuurrP!
They're probably just running Windows in virtualization anyway. It's way more practical to maintain a development or a stable production environment this way.
Andrew: What the hell? No.
There is no end to what people will figure out how to do with the Wii Mote.
Yeah this was a new usage ... but man they keep using for all kinds of stuff and less and less for games, sorta like my wii sitting at home, except for the it getting used for stuff part
I'm betting someone's gonna mention that Windows is being run on a Macbook.
nah, its photoshopped
someone, such as your self mentioning it?
That's a pretty safe bet, especially when you do it yourself.
I don't know a Mac owner that doesn't have either VMWare Fusion, Parallells or VirtualBox installed. I run Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (simultaneously) on all of my Macs/PCs. Don't you?
Andrew: That says a lot about OSX.
As a paramedic and as a gamer its a great idea. A lot of people have no idea how hard you have to push to accomplish anything. Now just add some sound effects of ribs cracking and force feed back and your all set. Now only if it would do CPR.
This is neat, but of no real value. There are MUCH better things to spend $50,000 on than this. A good trainer is worth much more than a wiimote based system. It's not that hard to do CPR, you simply have to pay attention to what you're doing.
Coupled to the DS where you can blow, you might be able to really train to reanimate people in need.
If you think that is cool you should check out what some students did in Canada: http://www.atreomedical.com/
How many levels are there? Any one done a walkthru yet?
LOL Windows on the MacBook!!!!
Yeah +1 for windows
I'm not sure what I'm more impressed with, the usage of the Wiimote or the fact that Alabama has a univesity.
(Hate me all you will but we hear the stereotypes even here in the UK)
There's a pig named Oinky at their university that sets the grade curve.
"It's a good thing I cheated off of Oinky!"
Not only does Alabama have a university, but UAB gets about $500 million a year in research grants. Or in terms a Brit might understand, about $44 million more than the $456 million you get when you convert Oxford's 285 million pounds to dollars.
Why are they using a bulky $40 Wiimote when all they want is a tiny $2 accelerometer?
I'm sitting in the living room of one of the guys who developed that software (James McKee). I knew he was in Newsweek... But I didn't know he was on Engadget! Awesome.
Go James!