iPhone and Wiimote brought together by Bluetooth
By Donald Melanson 
posted Aug 5th 2009 3:58PM
posted Aug 5th 2009 3:58PM
It's been a long time going, but it looks like the invisible divide between the iPhone and the Wii remote has finally been bridged through the magic of Bluetooth. That was apparently made possible thanks to the portable Bluetooth stack from the BTStack project, which got paired with some custom OpenGL-ES code to allow the Wiimote to control a virtual representation of itself on the iPhone. Practical? Of course not. But it's a Wiimote controlling an iPhone. Video after the break.
[Via MAKE]
[Via MAKE]
What's the deal with the corny song in the background?
This belongs on latfh.com
This is radio couleur 3, a cool radio station of the french-speaking part of Switzerland. http://www.couleur3.ch
I bet you any amount this is Jailbroken iphone based - would be too much to hope that it was apple API based :(
Well, you're in luck. All of the API used to make that video is available in the iPhone 3.0 SDK.
That may be true, but so are all of the API's to allow free control of the dock connector UART, and manipulate files outside of the current sandbox of the application. Unfortunately those things will only actually work on a Jailbroken phone... in fact they will only work if installed in ways only allowed by a Jailbroken phone.
This is using the open source btstack, but btstack requires that you issue commands through BlueTool to pair and such, which is not possible on a non-jailbroken phone AFAIK.
bluetooth isnt even enable on that phone...
aka its fake.
+1 How is BT working in Airplane mode??
The Cake Is A LIE!
Bluetooth can be enabled in Airplane mode. Turning on Airplane modes disables WiFi and BT, but you can turn 'em on later on.
I stand corrected. BT can be enabled in Airplane mode. Next question: How come the BT indicator is not showing?
the problem isnt the fact airplane mode is on, its theres no logo because its not enabled.
Practically every demo showing an app using btstack has the same comments, the icon doesn't work since its not apple's bluetooth stack, and it knows not of airplane mode or gui icons, the bt hardware is still there.
it'd probaly conflict with apple's stack.
that's because the Bluetooth icon on the iPhone is commonly shown when a connection is active by Apple's Bluetooth stack. No logo therefore only means, that Apple's Bluetooth stack is just turned off to make way for the new BTstack
Call me narrow minded but whats the point exactly? Why control one accelerometer controlled device with another? Seems incredibly pointless to me. I urge you to give me a single application where this makes sense and is practical.
you could use the wii remote to do accelerometer stuff so you dont need to wave the screen you are trying to look at around, thus making it rather pointless to try to play a game.
you dont want your screen glued onto your sword! that would be focus hell!
So, for playing a game where you need to be active or actively doing something and still trying to focus on that small screen? Seems like a recipe for disaster. Swing a sword around without looking at the sword sounds dangerous even if it is plastic.
Seems impractical.
I agree. Use for games? Not on that screen. Any practical application besides playing Star Wars on a 3" display?
Well, the Wiimote *IS* one of the only and most accessible bluetooth game controllers (with or without an accelerometer). If you've ever played games on the iPhone you might find yourself getting very tired of everything being touch or accelerometer controlled, physical buttons would be much nicer for many games.
Not to say that most people would want to tote a Wiimote around with their iPhone to use it on the bus or something. But maybe they'd want it to play GBA games in bed or on the couch on a Jailbroken phone. Who knows.
I guess but it still seems pointless to me. Of course I'm no fan of the iphone either so perhaps thats part of my lack of interest. Its like giving touch screen functionality to a toaster. I just don't see the point. As for gaming the only gaming I do on small screens is sudoku and other simple games. Games on portables is a time waster for when your in line. Or in a waiting room. Imagine someone waving their arm around holding a wiimote, looking at a iphone in a hospital waiting room.
Again not at all practical, but you guys have some good thoughts. But how about some ideas that don't involve games?
This Wiimote demo may not have much use beyond games for iPhone, but the underlying process they used to pair with the iPhone does. The iPhone has a somewhat locked down Bluetooth implimentation, so this project will raise awareness about the btstack project they used to acheive this, which will further allow people to make use of bluetooth devices with the iPhone.
Ok, now that could be handy (if I had, or wanted, or cared about the iphone). So the showboating of pairing an iphone and a wiimote is not the point. Its the underlying technology. So the point of the article and accompanying video is to show it has no point, referenceing what they actually accomplished, which is pairing an iphone and a wiimote.
Crystal now, thanks.
Still a pointless hack in and of itself.
@Collin The PS3 controller is also Bluetooth and would serve a way better purpose as a controller for iPhone games than the Wii remote.
Can remotely see the orientation of anything it's attached to even when not in view, surely there's something someone can think of? If you do though you might want to go with 'sell it don't tell it'.
It should be obvious how you could use it. Look at the game Zen Bound. Wouldn't that game be pretty cool if you actually had the object to manipulate in your hand instead of using gestures? That's where the wiimote would fit in.
A Wii Emulator on the iPhone would be good - the hardware's probably about 4x more powerful than a Wii anyway.
@Tim
Oh reallly?!
Why do the blue lights keep blinking? It does that when it can't connect, or is in the process of connecting normally. But apparently it is connected. If there was any type of practical use for this that alone would annoy the hell out of me.
A couple of things that make me think this video is fake:
1. As indicated by a previous poster, bluetooth doesn't even appear to be enabled on the iPhone.
2. The Wii-mote continues to blink throughout the presentation. Blinking lights usually indicate that the Wii-mote is still in the process of trying to sync.
Also, the phone seems to be recognizing 1:1 motion without the Wii Motion plus...
Not saying the video is real... but it's not 1-to-1 motion, it's just the accelerometer data. So it could be done.
also note:
For Bluetooth, after you turn on Airplane mode, tap Settings > General > Bluetooth, then turn Bluetooth on.
From - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1355
so bluetooth can be turned on while in Airplane mode it appears.
Well if you tried pairing a Wiimote with a computer, the lights blink even when successfully paired.
They only stop blinking when issued a command to stop blinking by a program eg. GlovePIE.
The lights on the Wii motes are controlled by the Wii. Only the Wii knows which player (1-4) corresponds to which Wii mote... how could the Wii mote KNOW which light to light?
where do you get the BTStack thing?! I wanna try it :)
http://code.google.com/p/btstack
Yeah, Always when i see this sort of videos i think why don't you think about it when you want to make a fake video...
how easy is it to put a wii in the background where teh wiimote can connect and to put bt on...
and finally whats the fun about making a fake video^^
@Michael
The Wii Remote has always been able to detect tilt 1:1. What it can't do (without Wii MotionPlus) is do 1:1 when it's moving in any way but tilt.
I wonder why the wiimote seems to be moving in different directions to the wiimote on the screen and some points in the video...
FAKE
i don't think it's fake.
but what i would like to see is some sort of robot being controlled by the wiimote through the iPhone.
Damn, I thought It'd enable iPhones to be used as Wiimotes and video of people hurling them through TV screens across america.
The most obvious application for something like this would be to use the iPhone as an intelligent controller for some attached device while accepting instructions from the Wii remote. Think of it as a step up from a Lego mindstorms NXT brick.
You could connect the iPhone to the TV, pair up the Wii remote, and there you have it: a portable WiiPhone.
Or hook up the iphone to a pico display and you've got a wall sized play area.
iPhone + wiimote + tape = widescreen gameboy advanced? or PSX? I think so!
2 years behind the competition
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/02/wiimote-used-to-control-nokia-n95/
Hey, that's pretty cool. I've got it running on my N95. It works great when playing Nes or GBA games using TV-Out on the big screen.
hehe, nice catch