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U.S. Military using Wiimote-controlled Packbot to disable bombs


We like the way the U.S. military thinks. One of the Wii's biggest flaws is the painful stretches of downtime between its bigger releases, causing dust to settle on Nintendo's minuscule console and cobwebs to form on our Wiimotes. What better way to get more mileage out of our neglected gyroscopic peripherals than to use them to blow up actual bombs and landmines?

This must have been the thought process of those techno-wizards at iRobot, who have modified their Packbot model to be controlled by a standard Wii remote. It seems they discovered that Nintendo's motion-sensitive controller doesn't just lend itself to instinctive, natural interaction with games like Wii Tennis, but also with maneuvering rifle-mounted, explosive-detonating robots -- just remember to always use the wrist strap. Impaling a TV screen while hitting the Wii Bowling lanes is embarassing, throwing the reigns of a gun-toting war machine is just plain irresponsible.