Wiimote turns LCD into $1000 Graphics Tablet

TPD

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/clips/use-a-wiimote-to-make-whiteboards-out-of-anything-332039.php

Has anyone seen this?

Basically, connect a wiimote to your PC using bluetooth, point the wiimote at your screen, and use an Infrared LED as the stylus, after calibrating it with that free program. Hey presto! You can draw straight onto your screen.

He says himself that the resolution isnt as high as a professional graphics tablet, but that it is fairly good. And for the cost (assuming you've got a wiimote and a screen) of $12, I think its worth a shot.

The $12 is for a bluetooth adaptor which I'd get use of anyway, 20 IR LEDs and 50 cell batteries.

If anyones heard any success/failure stories involving this, please let me know. I'll let you know how I get on when the goods arrive (knowing dealextreme, mid January).

wba88

that guy is a legend

kirving

Wow! How does he click, though?

RoyalMarine

the wii remote picks up the laser pointer / l.e.d light

Steoob

Kevin Irving wrote:

How does he click, though?

seconded... like the lights always on, how does the remote have any idea when its touching the screen or not.. i smell a hoax tbh

Krusty_Clown

It's not a hoax. He has used similar technology for other projects, e.g. this.
It doesn't need to know when it is touching the screen. That there is even a screen there at all is incidental.

I would imagine that the clicking is handled by the same application that he used to calibrate the screen.

Krusty_Clown

Here's his website, with his full list of projects:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/

TPD

The light isnt on for most of the time, theres no way to move the mouse without it leftclicking.

Anyway, the stuff arrived, and half worked. I think I just need to give the LED a bit more juice to get it running ok. Bad quality though, no real compromise for a graphics tablet. Oh well.