Wiimote Controlled Ruben’s Tube

June 11, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 13 Comments

While we could be content following our “kiddie d-day” as [Caleb Kraft] suggested. We know you can’t continue such an awesome Friday without trying to blow yourself up first.

This Wiimote Rubens’ tube caught our eye. A PVC Aluminum irrigation pipe is drilled with holes and propane is pumped through. A speaker on one end creates changes in pressure and a neat light show follows suit. [ScaryBunnyMan] went further though, with a collection of software and a Wii Remote he “plays god” controlling the music, and thus, the fire. Check out a fun video after the split.

[Via Make]

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Wii Remote Connectivity For Android Devices

May 13, 2010 by Mike Szczys 42 Comments

[Pikipirs] developed an app that lets you connect a Wii remote to an Android phone. After the break you can see it used with a Sega emulator. The button presses seem very responsive, making for a nice gaming addition if you care to carry around the Wiimote in addition to your phone. It certainly seems to work better than the Wii remote + iPhone hacks we’ve seen. Pick it up from the Android store or download the APK from the thread linked at the top. This is an alpha version so don’t be shocked if it’s buggy.

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FPS Controller Hacks Getting Easier

May 10, 2010 by Mike Szczys 12 Comments

It used to be a major production to build a gun-form-factor FPS controller but commercial tech has adopted many of those traditional hacks over the years. Now, [Nirav Patel] is playing Cube with a Wii zapper and a SpacePoint. All that was really required to make this happen is a patch to Cube, the open source FPS.

[Nirav] has plans to make this controller wireless using a BeagleBoard. We’re wondering if there’s support for using the Wii motion plus? We’ve seen motion plus Arduino connectivity, as well as direct PC connectivity. The Wii remote already connects to Linux, what about pulling that data down from the Bluetooth connection? If you’ve done this, send us a tip about it.

The Wii Golf Glove

April 27, 2010 by Mike Szczys 14 Comments

[Shu Uesugi] is filling a controller void that Nintendo has yet to address. He picked up a golf glove from Target and incorporated it into an air guitar interface. Give the video after the break a chance, you’ll start to see the full potential of this build about three and a half minutes into it. Using an Arduino, a Wii nun-chuck, and his flex-senor adorned glove [Shu] can play individual notes, strum cords, and play around with sound effects such as distortion.

So come on Nintendo, the Power Glove was one of your greatest ideas, where’s our 21st century version? I guess we’ll just have to make our own like [Shu] did. Perhaps we’ll even build our flex sensors from scratch.

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Wii Remote Controlled Balancing Wheel chair

April 25, 2010 by Mike Szczys 10 Comments

The Personal Mobility Robot (PMR) has a chair for a passenger and balances on two wheels like a Segway. Now the clever folks at the University of Tokyo have added Wii remote control to the platform in a full-sized version of the Segwii. We understand that adding Wiimote control to anything isn’t exactly groundbreaking at this point. That being said, if using stock hardware can increase the quality of the user interface on something like a wheelchair, while decreasing the production cost at the same time, we’re all for it.

[Thanks Erico]

Virtual Windows That Track A Viewer’s Position

April 16, 2010 by Mike Szczys 44 Comments

Winscape will let you replace that garbage-strewn ally view with just about anything you want. The two windows above are actually plasma screen televisions. In between them you can spot a Nintendo Wii Remote that is used to track an IR badge worn by the person in the room. As they move, the images on the screens are changes to simulate the change in perspective you would see out of a real-world window. Take a look at the video after the break. This is unfortunately not an open source project but the software is available for trial and we find the concept interesting. If you can write video processing algorithms you may be able to take the Wii Remote Whiteboard concept and turn it into a Winscape clone. Continue reading “Virtual Windows That Track A Viewer’s Position” →

Arduino IPod Library Work Continues

April 1, 2010 by Mike Szczys 24 Comments

[David Findlay] has been hard at work on his Arduino iPod remote library and is now showing off some Wii Nunchuck control in the video after the break. When we looked in on his work in September he was using a Staples Easy Button to control the iPod. Now he’s added all of the functionality for iPod simple remote mode, and most of the advanced mode.

Advanced mode works well with his iPod Photo but the iPhone just returns errors. We know that Apple uses some tricks to keep unauthorized accessories out, so we hope that [David] finds a way to sniff out the necessary accessory protocols from an approved model.

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