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49 Comments
- inio, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15How uninformative can an article be? The Wii remote has two main sensors: the Pixart camera+point tracker (tracks the Sensor Bar), and the Analog Devices accelerometer. The camera is for pointing (Elebits), the accelerometer is for motion (Wii Sports) To date, no games have used the two together. The accelerometer is a small chip just left of the A button (on the top of the board). The Bluetooth chip is on the back of the board opposite the speaker. Its antenna is all the way up at the top-right corner.
For the CEs in the crowd: Camera is on an I2C bus. XLR is on an SPI bus. The extension port bus appears to be custom. If you're gonna power a wiimote up off an external source, don't go above 3.2V. If you want to remotely sync a wii remote, dremel a hole in the left side above the slot just forward (towards the camera end) of the player LEDs and solder a wire to the pin that's there. Pulling that pin to the battery - terminal is the same as pressing the sync button. - JeremyBanks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The magazine included a description of how it detected where you were pointing it, but it was wrong. They said that the sensor bar picked up a signal from the front of the remote. Here's the email I sent them:
"In last month's issue, on page 63, you explained how the Nintendo Wii's controller determines where you're pointing on the screen. Unfortunately, you seem to have been a bit mixed up. The sensor bar is a misnomer, it doesn't actually sense anything, it's just a series of infrared lights that are seen by a one-megapixel image sensor on the front of the controller. It's not how most people think it works, but it's true. A neat way to prove this is to remove the "sensor bar" and place two candles on top of your TV. It'll still be able to detect where you're pointing, it'll just be a little shaky."
They replied and said that it would be corrected in the online version and will run a correction in the print edition. - whiteEEnerd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7They are tearing it apart, and not telling us anything about it really. Not quite as much detail as I was expecting. This site takes a much better look at the guts of the Wii remote:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/present.php?p=Wii-Internals
Also, if you are interested in the accelerometer and how you get tilt data from it, read this:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freescale.com%2Ffiles%2Fsensors%2Fdoc%2Fapp_note%2FAN3107.pdf&ei=dDSwRdjeO4ySgASatOC_CQ&usg=__BXYQ7m8utVvdL7jVpVpACWom9lI=&sig2=fM41Ub7CHwA8LjSsJmAOvQ - Scatropolis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The IR is for anything relating to pointing to the screen, including the menus and FPSs. That's it as far as I know.
- SpikeX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5In the original magazine article, they state that the point-and-click technology works because "the Wiimote SENDS infrared signals to the Sensor bar on your TV", which is completely false. The Wiimote pointing device works because the tip of the Wiimote senses the two infrared lights on the sensor bar and interprets the data based on size of the light and the distance the lights are apart. Hell, someone even used two candles as a sensor bar replacement because fire emits infrared light.
Which leads me to ask why PopSci thinks it can explain to its readers how an Accelerometer works when they can't even get simple infrared technology correct? - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"he camera is for pointing (Elebits), the accelerometer is for motion (Wii Sports) To date, no games have used the two together"
Haven't played Zelda yet have we? - Vanadium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm curious what the IR does then. This article only talks about the accelerometer.
- TheTjalian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Or Red Steel.
- wiihuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2if that's all you've got, you might want to retire for good.
- martian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"ADXL330 Small, Low Power, 3-Axis ±3g iMEMS® Accelerometer"
http://www.analog.com/en/prod/0%2C2877%2CADXL330%2C00.html - Blakovitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My bad. The Wii console is what's actually deconstructed, although they also detail what's going on inside the Wii remote.
- tanameyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wario Ware uses both simultaneously in quite a few mini-games. Darts being a prime example. You have to point AND throw. Also the minigame where the woman is falling from a plane. You have to line up your hand AND reach out to catch her.
Unless I'm wrong both of these use the motion and point functions, right? - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"I'm curious what the IR does then. This article only talks about the accelerometer. "
The Wiimote only has an accelerometer, which means its piss poor about sensing in what direction it's pointing, which is important for things like aiming. The "Sensor Bar" and the CMOS sensor in the Wiimote corrects this by giving the Wiimote something to lock onto and generate a directional vector. Because it's looking for two lights and not just one, it can also tell the orientation to the screen the remote is placed at, and helps distinguish the sensor bar from other interference (overhead lamps). The basic genius behind the whole design is the CMOS sensor and the sensor bar. - rabidsnail, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2More detailed: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/present.php?p=Wii-Internals
- Disconnect, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Try the sensor sensitivity adjustment in the wii setup menu. Helped me a lot (window left of the tv occasionally interfered on sunny days.)
- Blakovitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Awesome! Thanks for the info, RabidSnail...now I don't have to destroy my Wii Remote to find out what it looks like on the inside :)
- Splitt3rxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1that article posted by whiteEEnerd was much better, it is kidna funny they can go into such detail when they don't even know the eepROM is used for mii storage. my theory on the 3300uF cap is taht it is used to supply filtered DC to the attachment(nunchuck)
- camino262, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I wonder if the accelerometer's springs will eventually wear out?. It seems that the acceleration is calculated by how far the mass moves and also takes account of the spring constant. I hope these remotes last as long as my original NES controllers have!
- gridbread, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Meh, I'm really starting to dislike IR, I've had nothing but inconsistent performance with the Wii Remote, it works -just not very well.
Interpretation and sensing is pretty flaky on numerous setups I've tried.
This feeling toward it is probably amplified by the fact it usually always screws ME over when playing a game, but overall I've enjoyed the Wii.
It may have to do with my height relevant to the position of the tv/sensor...
I'm starting to find I've had less frustration with the sixaxis, which works well regardless of your position. - subxero37, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3A couple things I hate about so many websites: the pictures are irrelevant (pictures of the Wii all over, but none of the Wii remote and its internals), or the pictures are incredibly low-quality or low-resolution pictures. Pictures of internal parts should always be at least 1024x768, and shot at reasonable distance from the subject.
No excuse. I've seen so many how-tos with pictures lower than 512x384. Come on, how the hell am I supposed to see what's going on at that size, especially with my monitor's pixels being tiny to begin with (17" 1280x1024, ~96 dpi.) - Toupee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1WhiteEENerd posted this 2 minutes before you in the first comment thread.
Just sayin'. In any case, a much more detailed look at the insides of the remote. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow, I guess the original "how the wiimote works" article written before launch was pretty damed close:
http://www.xgaming.com/newsletter/Wii%20Dupe.shtml - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Something you might be interested in:
http://www.wiire.org/Main_Page
Macro sized pictures of the Wii's internals. I'd just love to solder a socket on that TSOP and read out the contents, but I'm not risking my Wii to do it, I haven't even SEEN another Wii in a store yet.
If someone's got a dead Wii laying around (SmashMyWii?), let me or one of the other deconstructionists know, so we can desolder that flash and take a look. - Laiden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1GJ Jeremy. I read the same thing and was very disappointed they even they could not get the facts straight when it seems to be common geek knowledge. Who doesn't know about the candle trick?
- grumbel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, it doesn't make much sense to use them together, after all you can't precisely point and swing the Wiimote around at the same time. Getting the data at the same time however is totally possible and can be easily done with a Bluetooth adapter and a PC.
- chingy1788, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1contact nintendo
if your machine appears faulty
nindento will replace it under warranty
or if its not faulty they'll find away to make you play the Wii better - ExSlashdotter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1or Raving Rabbids.
or Madden.
or Call of Duty. - Noffie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I know. I read that too and was like "What? What PopSci intern did they get to screw up this article."
- babylonian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Honestly, I'm glad they're wrong. I'd rather not know how it works; I choose to believe it runs on magic.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Great. How long until we get crappy MadCatz versions now?"
We're still waiting on someone to fully eludicate the workings of the Wiimote Bluetooth protocol. We're pretty close but there's a lot of fine tuning that's left to be done. After that, it shouldn't be too long for it to be cloned, though I dunno how much cheaper you can make it; many of the components in the remote don't come bottom-of-the-barrel cheap (the accelerometer alone is $6/1000 units). - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-5vmf-71-dh-49-zh-15-guitar-84-j-70-1v2m-43-bn.html
- turpenine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1the two togethor simultaneously...
- crossers, on 07/15/2008, -0/+0waw! how fast grow up science! good article!
http://www.shpe-sac.org
http://www.ocflex.com/
http://www.trgovinca.org
http://www.chasr.org/ - Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It works like all wii articles: by being posted in the wrong topic.
- larrykoopa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0cool stuff. thanks.
- Ashex, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Hate to break it to ya, but that's not a wiimote. That's a Wii console...
- theblooms, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Use Greasemonkey to cure that.
http://www.digg.com/software/Remove_excessive_exclamation_points_with_Greasemonkey - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0who deleted
- leoedin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Don't bury - it may be completely off topic, but they are offering Joost invites!
- jfavreau, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@spikex: right on
http://digg.com/gaming_news/Popular_Science_No_clue_how_the_Wiimote_works - VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Hey, who needs real cameras when our cell phones have them, right?
- Walker2323, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1they've gone now, thanks, and bury to your heart's content.
- FoxtrotUSAF, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Bah! Here we go again with these "scientists" trying to tell us how the world works without god. Everyone knows god gave us the accelerometer with his devine power to use with his game Bible Adventures on the NES, but the pegans of Japan stopped that because of their greed to steal praise from the almighty. God didn't decree it to be called "accelerometer" either. It was supposed to be the "Christ O' Meter", because with a device that detects motion it's only moral use it to show how much god's will moves you.
Ok, I'm done making fun of fundamentalist Christians for today. - Walker2323, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2I have two Joost invites that are about to expire. First two people to email me at walkerpeters at gmail.com get them. I will update when they're gone.
- venir, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Wrong reply, bury this.
- seattle98104, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2you need a few more exclamations in that headline !!!!
- pikpikcarrotmon, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Great. How long until we get crappy MadCatz versions now?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1*****
- 1KrazyKorean, on 10/12/2007, -21/+2Wow what a freaking waste, tearing apart a perfectly good Wii. :(
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