WiimoteHacks
Latest
Student moves quadriplegics with Wiimote wheelchair control (video)
There were certainly a couple whiz kids at Intel's International Science and Engineering Fair this year, but high school senior John Hinckel's a regular MacGyver: he built a wheelchair remote control out of a couple sheets of transparent plastic, four sliding furniture rails and some string. A Nintendo Wiimote goes in your hat and tells the whole system what to do -- simply tilt your head in any direction, and accelerometer readings are sent over Bluetooth. The receiving laptop activates microcontrollers, directing servo motors to pull the strings, and acrylic gates push the joystick accordingly to steer your vehicle. We tried on the headset for ourselves and came away fairly impressed -- it's no mind control, but for $534 in parts, it just might do. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who thought so, as patents are pending, and a manufacturer of wheelchair control systems has already expressed interest in commercializing the idea. See the young inventor show it off after the break.
Wall Street Journal takes on Wiimote hacking
The Wall Street Journal has a brief piece -- and an even briefer video accompaniment -- covering Wiimote hacking of all things. Notable: they're calling it the "Wii-mote," not Wii Remote. Even more notable: the article's front page status!The Wii continues its mainstream media march, with the WSJ making their way to all the things we've been enjoying for months: Wiimote air guitar; air drums; Wii DJing; Wii loop machine ... and we're just scratching the surface. A very dry Nintendo spokesperson said, simply, "The Wii Remote was created to play on the Wii system only." Oh yeah? And we bet the NES controller wasn't meant to be a cell phone, TV remote, or dockable iPod controller either!
Wiimote hacked to make opening doors look silly
Most Wiimote hacks we get involve using the little white wonder as a cheap substitute controller for things that are somewhat difficult to operate, like immersive 3D simulators and robot arms. On the other hand, blowing hours of your life hacking a Wiimote just to unlock a door deserves a special mention for sheer absurdity of purpose. Dissatisfied with their existing smartcard setup, a group of Japanese fanboys rigged up their, um, FreeBSD door controller (doorputer?) to accept Bluetooth input from Wiimotes. A simple flick of the wrist triggers the lock motor, allowing you to pass into the next room ready to explain why you're wandering around with a Wiimote strapped to your wrist for no apparent reason. We see only two problems with this setup: first, since the system only authenticates users via Bluetooth addresses, it's far less secure than, you know, keys; and second, everyone knows Linux runs a doorputer like, so much better than BSD. Video of the Wiimote in action after the jump, plans at the read link.[Via Hacked Gadgets]
