Control the Wii with your fingertips

36 Comments by Ross Miller Nov 11th 2007 5:05PM
Filed under: Hacks, Nintendo Wii

We love nothing more than walking down the street and pointing at random objects, figuring we are nurturing our inherent telekinetic powers and that one day the neighbor's dog will be lifted three meters into the air. In the interim, we need help practicing our finger-pointing accuracy.

Using the above video as tutorial, you can turn use a Nintendo Wii remote for making a finger-controlled interface à la the film Minority Report (and you thought Tom Cruise was using thetans to control the monitor ...). All you need is an array of infrared LEDs and some reflective tape. Remember, the Wii remote is a bluetooth device so you should be able to apply this method for any computer interface. Now to figure out how to simulate a mouse click ...

[Via Hackaday; thanks, Phillip]

Tags: bluetooth, hacks, infrared, minority-report, nintendo

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

NickDynmo: Nov 11th 2007; 5:19PM

The coolest thing I've seen all day.

required: Nov 11th 2007; 6:40PM

The Playstation Eye already does this and reflective tape is not needed nor are the array of infrared LEDs.

Bruce N: Nov 11th 2007; 5:23PM

This man has invented the next Nintendo console

Skippy: Nov 11th 2007; 5:32PM

Probably the smartest comment I've heard all week. It's only a matter of time...

cleff: Nov 11th 2007; 10:25PM

i second that. seriously tho... that guy can possibly be a billionaire any day now.

Ignatius: Nov 11th 2007; 5:30PM

P-p-p-Powerglove!

Just a hell of a lot cooler now.

Kazi: Nov 11th 2007; 5:31PM

Is there a USB device that does this? If there's not I'd love there to be, I'd buy it. Someone be the business guy and make it, SUPPLY MY DEMAND.

Mrfreezie: Nov 11th 2007; 5:33PM

Now, if only you could put that reflective tape on a glove of some sorts. Yes, and the name would have to be something relating to the power it gives you.. Hm, Power... Glove?

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME): Nov 11th 2007; 5:51PM

I'll take ten.

dan stabbingworth: Nov 11th 2007; 8:08PM

Oh, Rubang, at last you're becoming a crafty consumer! Just remember, the powerglove heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor!

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME): Nov 12th 2007; 4:21PM

I don't know what's funnier: your comment or your name. Good show, sir!

geiser80: Nov 11th 2007; 5:52PM

just in case you anybody wants to see some amzing demo:
http://www.btleague.net/info.asp?id=212

LaughingTarget: Nov 11th 2007; 5:54PM

Or just get the Playstation Eye or whatever stupid name they call it, does the same thing without all the extra setup.

samfish: Nov 11th 2007; 6:44PM

Except this might...y'know...actually work.

Llenlleawg: Nov 11th 2007; 7:00PM

Because the eye toy REALLY does use infrared to track points...that would REALLY work

MrMaestro: Nov 11th 2007; 6:00PM

Wow...this guy needs to work for NASA or the DoD...or somewhere! Just have him making products I am going to be using in the future!

Kazi: Nov 11th 2007; 7:08PM

Yup, a guy who ghetto rigged some infrared LEDs and a wiimote stand with finger reflectors. NASA material alright.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Nov 11th 2007; 8:41PM

Actually, knowing today's NASA, its probably above and beyond for them.

ill trooper: Nov 11th 2007; 6:02PM

That is great! Nice tweaky project, and a very well-produced video explaining the hardware side of what he's doing. I was laughing when I saw that after soldering together an IR LED array, creating an interactive piece of software that allows pinch/stretch scaling, and editing a video explaining it, he still used a deck of cards (an OPEN deck of cards at that) to prop up the Wii remote.

And definitely cool how you shouted out www.hackaday.com - fun site, although I never make the time to do any of the projects!

Generation ABXY: Nov 11th 2007; 6:03PM

Was that smart? No doubt. But I think the real proof of his intelligence here is that he somehow managed to escape Jim Henson’s studio – no easy task.

Jerk Face: Nov 11th 2007; 6:37PM

Ha ha... I see what you did there!

samfish: Nov 11th 2007; 6:07PM

Damn, that's cool. It'd be awesome if they could incorporate that into a console. Playing a shooter with your finger tips or a a 3D beat-'em-up by punching or even a DBZ game would all be tons of fun.

ukickmydog (NDF - Earth): Nov 11th 2007; 6:41PM

sylar

Rob Accomando: Nov 11th 2007; 6:30PM

that is very awesome. You could play point and click games...literally.

beans: Nov 11th 2007; 6:40PM

Hmm, by this same token, one should be able to just prop their wiimote on their tv and use a couple of candles (or some other ir source) to point around with.

hmmm...

It would make for a cool ritual of some sort 8-]

BallzDeep: Nov 11th 2007; 7:07PM

HAHAHA! He said "doodoo"*!!

*-3:09 mark

blehh: Nov 11th 2007; 7:38PM

went back to check, and then laughed my ass off. hahaha doodoo

gonk: Nov 11th 2007; 7:13PM

jawesome

Psaakyrn: Nov 11th 2007; 7:59PM

Or cultural dance tutorials.. (specifically, candle dances)

Lemmiwinks: Nov 12th 2007; 2:17AM

That's pretty cool, but if he's so smart, then why the hell did he just put it up on youtube?

Psaakyrn: Nov 12th 2007; 3:29AM

Youtube is a perfectly good way to teansmit unimportant information: fast, cheap, and reasonably low risk. You've a better idea for him to get the video out that has sufficient of the above factors?

Lemmiwinks: Nov 12th 2007; 11:53AM

I was just commenting that if this is a marketable idea, the last thing you'd want to do is put it out there for everyone to steal.

ThornedVenom: Nov 12th 2007; 8:25PM

Not everything has to be motivated by money. There is such thing as believing in some greater value, like contributing/donating knowledge and science to the progress of mankind in general.

If it weren't for that kind of mentality, the internet wouldn't be what it is today.

Lemmiwinks: Nov 12th 2007; 9:33PM

please... spare me the junior college platitudes...

Tipsy: Nov 12th 2007; 9:53AM

The reason people find this so much cooler is because it doesn't feel corporate - someones going to feel like they found it on their own (which non of us did).

ted: Dec 5th 2007; 4:10PM

Sony already did this back in 2002 with the EyeToy. They're the ones who are pioneering this technology on a commercial level, not some Youtube video. And they just upgraded it with the Playstation Eye for PS3. The possibilities are huge, and the PS3 can handle things like powerful image processing, motion detection, and even face recognition, which the Wii couldn't even begin to do. Check out the research being done at Sony with the technology:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/11/14/video-of-new-research-conducted-with-playstation-eye/

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