World’s most favorite gaming console “Nintendo Wii” has the most common and sophisticated input device, the “Wimote”. It is actually an infrared camera with 1024x768 resolution and built-in hardware blob tracking of up to 4 points at 100Hz. This makes it much more powerful than any PC Camera available today!
Do you know that Wiimote can be used for PC and programmed very easily in .Net? Yes! Jhonny Chung Lee of Carnegie Mellon University has made some WiimoteProjects that are awesome! Here are they:
Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote:
Using the infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), you can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen. This effectively transforms your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of depth and space.
The program only needs to know your display size and the size of your sensor bar. The software is a custom C# DirectX program and is primarily provided as sample code for developers without support or additional documentation. You may need the most recent version of DirectX installed for this to work.
Tracking Your Fingers with the Wiimote:
Using an LED array and some reflective tape, you can use the infrared camera in the Wii remote to track objects, like your fingers, in 2D space. This lets you interact with your computer simply by waving your hands in the air similar to the interaction seen in the movie "Minority Report". The Wiimote can track upto 4 points simultaneously. The multipoint grid software is a custom C# DirectX program.
Low-Cost Multi-point Interactive Whiteboards Using the Wiimote:
Since the Wiimote can track sources of infrared (IR) light, you can track pens that have an IR led in the tip. By pointing a wiimote at a projection screen or LCD display, you can create very low-cost interactive whiteboards or tablet displays. Since the Wiimote can track upto 4 points, up to 4 pens can be used. It also works great with rear-projected displays.