Wiimote controls giant claw, brings man and machine closer

by David Hinkle { Jul 9th 2009 at 4:00PM }

When your job is to sit in an office all day, controlling a 15-ton robotic arm, things can get kind of boring. Thankfully, some ingenious operators decided to fool around with the arm at their disposal and managed to implement Wiimote controls. Judging by the YouTube video after the break, taking the thing for a spin with the Wiimote looks like it works quite well, as the gigantic yellow claw pretty much follows the movements of its operator exactly.

If we weren't sure the giant claw cost more money than we could ever hope to see, we'd suggest playing the world's largest crane game, or a bit of Let's See How Far We Can Throw This Minivan.

[Via Make]

Tags: claw, robot, robot-claw, robotic-arm, robotics, wiimote

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 9th 2009 4:05PM

Oh man, the possibilities.....

SKYNET!!!!

BunnySlapper @ Jul 9th 2009 4:08PM

But where are the shitty stuffed animals/toys/DeVry University diplomas to try and pick up? What's my motivation?

Anthology @ Jul 9th 2009 5:09PM

You could pick up a tank with this and you're worried about a stuffed bunny.

BunnySlapper @ Jul 9th 2009 5:53PM

You can't hug your children with NUCLEAR ARMS!

gordo @ Jul 9th 2009 4:09PM

Yeah but the grapple always drops the stuffed animal at the last second.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Jul 9th 2009 4:09PM

LAME!!!! Wii is for soccer moms, old people, little kids, and mad scientist...oh wait MAD SCIENTIST? RAD!

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 9th 2009 4:10PM

GIANT ENEMY CLAWS!!!!

AHH!!!!!

uncle jesse @ Jul 9th 2009 4:10PM

Now you're playing with power!

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 9th 2009 4:10PM

Dude, that's super, duper, quadruple power!

Cease-Fire @ Jul 9th 2009 4:10PM

lol yeah have them fight!!

John @ Jul 9th 2009 4:11PM

That looks sick...

But i am relatively skeptical if it is real or not.

Freudian Lemur @ Jul 9th 2009 6:24PM

The Wiimote's accelerometers (motion sensors) are being used to control this, not the infra red sensor, so no sensor bar is needed. But I agree, it could be faked.

Jesse @ Jul 10th 2009 10:00AM

I'm a controls engineer, this is definitely a simple hack if you know how the accelerometers return info to your computer assuming the claw is controlled electronically and not mechanically.

Odds are though, this thing was controlled with a couple joysticks in the first place which will return values similar to that of the wiimote and all the engineer had to do was switch the feedback device to the wiimote. Depending on how well written the control engineer's software was written in the first place, this could implemented in a few hours of coding and debugging.

Jesse @ Jul 10th 2009 10:03AM

Correction: change the word "feedback" to "input". The feedback would be from sensors on the pneumatic pumps which would allow for a better, more accurate reflection of the user input.

MowDownJoe @ Jul 9th 2009 4:13PM

Stop spamming your stupid site.

That said, interesting bit. Could've used some better music, though... almost fell asleep.

ArchiGamer @ Jul 9th 2009 4:14PM

Best thing ever.

Shiaoran @ Jul 9th 2009 4:15PM

- 'You do have a Wii? Get the f*** out of here!'

- Say that to my giant claw, beeyotch!

j.howlett @ Jul 9th 2009 4:24PM

you could play win your own claw game with these

Rob @ Jul 9th 2009 4:34PM

Today: Wiimotes controlling giant claws

Tomorrow: ROBOT APOCALYPSE!

Shmil @ Jul 9th 2009 4:48PM

Robocalypse? Oh god no!

phr3qu3ncy441 @ Jul 9th 2009 5:14PM

i believe the robocalypse has already begun... in Japan http://blog.flickr.net/en/2009/07/09/a-robot-rise/

this is just Australia trying to play catchup. maybe the US can too if we could just use what's left of the auto industry and find the allspark.

whylekat @ Jul 9th 2009 4:38PM

is this real? does it not need a wiimote sensor or something? I dunno if I'm buying into this...

gib @ Jul 9th 2009 4:40PM

I agree with Joe... about your spamming.

oOWallaceOo @ Jul 9th 2009 4:52PM

Looks like R.O.B has been at the steroids

Drahken @ Jul 9th 2009 5:19PM

Between the music and the guys voice, the video sounded like a dating service video, real estate show, or possible some sort of Jacques Cousteau-esque documentary.

PunchyMcJunk @ Jul 9th 2009 6:07PM

Make it a Powerglove, and then I'll be impressed

Yatcho @ Jul 9th 2009 6:10PM

But the real question is: Does it have motion + support?

Marty @ Jul 9th 2009 6:11PM

I've had some fun with the Wii, but I wouldn't want to hook it up to something like this... I've had too many instances of the cursor disappearing from the screen, following by it spastically jumping around the screen to want to see a giant robotic arm do the same.

And no, I was not moving my arms frantically around at the time. I was just waiting for the cursor to come back.

Freudian Lemur @ Jul 9th 2009 6:23PM

Notice this isn't using a sensor bar? So there would be no problem with jumping about. Your problem is probably something to to with the Wiimote seeing other sources of light (ie a window on a sunny day). The jumping about is nothing to do with the accelerometers.