Popular Science guts a Wii remote

by John Bardinelli { Mar 16th 2007 at 8:29AM }

Back in November, Popular Science scored a Wii system long before the official launch. And what did they do with it? They destroyed it. Accidentally, according to the editor. Faced with a startling lack of Wii Sports on their hands, the crew resorted to taking pictures of the mess and tinkering with the system's insides. Fanboys across the world shed a tear, but looked at the pictures anyway.

Continuing their look inside the splayed system, this month's issue of Popular Science features a peek inside the Wiimote and its accelerometer technology. Apparently the remote can detect movements as small as five nanometers, 1/40 the width of a human hair. That's exactly the technology we need to jump around like a deranged kangaroo in front of the TV.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kye @ Mar 16th 2007 9:04AM

This just makes me think of all the sweet practice swings I take in Wii golf, just to completely f*ck up the actual shot. lol.

Good times.

Has anyone ever got a hole in one in that game? Pics/video to prove please.

CowboyGA @ Mar 16th 2007 9:10AM

What? This story lacks and ending! It's Popular Science, but without the "weird science." If you're going to crack open a Wiimote, discuss how you fixed it or modded it. The next time I read a Joystiq article involving Popular Science, I expect the words "death ray."

Tmoney @ Mar 16th 2007 9:17AM

The wiimote canot detect movement as small as this bloger is stating. The article states that the weights in the accellorometer move that far to detect motion. In order to move the weights in the remote it takes considerably more movement by the wiimote itself.

Crono @ Mar 16th 2007 9:21AM

"Apparently the remote can detect movements as small as five nanometers"

You misunderstood the article. There is only 5 nanometers between the teeth of the silicon block that moves and the conducting teeth that generate or change voltage when they're bent (relative to acceleration). This small space basically just garauntees that it will pick up even the smallest acceleration.

It was a good read. I didn't really know how accelerometers worked inside that thing. I probably should have figured it was something like that

Metro Mapper @ Mar 16th 2007 10:01AM

I was going to write to Popular Science because there were 2 errors in the print article.

One is that they say the remote shoots out an infrared beam, which is wrong: it just reads the infrared beams shot out by the sensor bar. It looks like the corrected it in the IR rollover on the site though! Although they still say there are 2 emitters in the sensor bar, when really there are 10 (5 on each side).

The second error is still in the rollover, where they say "the accelerometer tracks how you've shifted relative to that spot, so the Wii can determine precisely what you are aiming at." This is wrong. It knows where you are aiming by the infrared signals, not some spacial orientation of the accelerometers relative to the TV.

Taffer @ Mar 16th 2007 10:03AM

Aren't they wrong about the sensor bar, though? I thought it was agreed that all it does is emit infrared light, not actually pick up IR sent from the remote.

aC @ Mar 16th 2007 10:08AM

I'm not sure what you guys are reading, but when I read this I see it say that the sensor bar emits light from two infrared LED's that are picked up by the Wii remote for calibration and positioning by the system... that's absolutely correct.

UpIrons @ Mar 16th 2007 11:07AM

I generally like Pop-Sci but this particular article seems to have dropped the ball a bit. For one thing, some of the information was incorrect as originally posted (though it appears to have been fixed now). Also, it seems like they are kind of late to the game on this one. I've already seen several links to sites with Wii-motes gutted and explained in even greater detail than it is in this particular article.