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106 Comments
- PatrickFisher, on 10/12/2007, -2/+111From the article: "...the sensor bar is not the receiver the wiimote is. This way the batteries from the wiimotes don’t keep draining. The wiimote is the actual receiver."
That is pure genius. Somebody was sure thinking when they came up with that. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+65And it kind of explains why they cost $40 each.
- noseeme, on 10/12/2007, -1/+64Hm, that's odd. When I click on the link under "More Digg" that says "Digg Tools", it sends me to your profile.
- saggygrandma, on 10/12/2007, -2/+65wow, you never really think of it being the other way around..
- jacobmp92, on 10/12/2007, -0/+57The Wii Remote acts as an infrared camera. The sensor bar acts as the flashlight. It sends out 2 dots, which the remote sees. The dots' positions are sent back to the console, where the angle and position of the remote is calculated.
You can try ths out from Wii Settings > Sensor Bar > Sensitivity. - clashbomb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+48theoretically, couldn't one just mod it by adding a battery to make it wireless?
- PatrickFisher, on 10/12/2007, -4/+51Congratulations moonwell. Your bad day just got you blocked by about 50 people. Say goodbye to your account.
- asskey, on 10/12/2007, -8/+42Hasn't this idea been around since the lightgun?
- flamingmb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34I always thought it had something to do with the aligment of the planets and magic from the far east.
- xmetal2001, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29Nintendo considered this, but decided it would be frustrating for gamers to run out of batteries in the middle of a game.
- raisinbrainMMM, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30I wish I could calibrate the vertical position of the sensor bar more than just "ABOVE TV", "BELOW TV". Zelda's settings let you change this a little, but very well at all.
I hate not being able to point at the center of the screen and make the cursor be right at the center as well. Its always a little off. - supergwiz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26so the "sensor" is a misnomer. It doesn't do any sensing.
- macbookpromat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22I dunno how to react to this. I guess this only proves how much time Nintendo actually put into the hardware of this machine.
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20 Guspaz:
According to one of the "Ask Iwata" segment on Nintendo's site, the Wiimote IR camera takes 200 images a second (200 fps). They found that 60 fps was not enough for accuracy.
A small 1152x864 camera that can sense 200 frames per seconds is not cheap, that explains the price of the Wiimote. - mromblad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19nintendo put time beyond belief on this. in fact there were several models before the official wiimote and nunchuck. I know of one model from a letter written by a nintendo engineer which looked similar to a nokia "brick" cell phone with a analog stick on it.
The wiimote is definitely a revolutionary controller. - zonk3r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22You forgot fairy dust. Can't forget the fairy dust.
- finalbroadcast, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Well, that is because most people don't have effective writing skills. Writing is actually one of the most sought after skills in business. In addition, this is the web, few people bother to even spell check, why be clear and concise?
- iJump, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22@moonwell:
"this day was boring so ***** yourself with your new ps3, wi, xbox, ***** scumbags, I have enough of everything and i say "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air." I whistled for a cab and when it came near, the license plate said "Fresh" and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare but I thought "Nah, forget it, Yo homes, to Bel-Air!" I pulled up to the house about seven or eight and I yelled to the cabby, "Yo homes, smell ya later!" I looked at my kingdom, I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air."
Fixed! - cdawzrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Not really. The sensor bar is used for absolute positioning of the wiimote WRT your tv, to use it as a mouse cursor. Neither of the other 2 wireless consoles do this. Bluetooth, as in the 360 and PS3, is used for the data link between the controller and the Wii, not for positioning.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Yeah you don't think of it being the other way around...until you think back to last week, when the old Nintendo light gun was explained. The screen flashed and the gun actually saw the flashing to determine if there was a hit or not. It's similar, the brain's in the controller instead of the other way around.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+22Why do all the subheadlines of the articles posted on here read like they were written by kindergarteners?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18"Nintendo considered this, but decided it would be frustrating for gamers to run out of batteries in the middle of a game."
so they gave us AA's for the wiimotes instead of lithiums :-P - Sabin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Direct sunlight and certain type of light bulbs (halogens) cover quite alot of the spectrum in their emissions.....including IR which is why the Wiimote freaks out.
- billvasser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12It is really amazing to use. I can't wait to see how developers use it to its full potential. For the first day I had it all I could say was "that's so cool!"
Nintendo deserves their kudos for their work on this console. It's true that the 360 and the PS3 have their perks too, but you just have to admire the ingenuity that went into the Wii. They really thought it all out. - juancn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11It actually is the way it makes more sense to implement it. The pointer sensor scheme is easier to implement if you think of it as an optical mouse. I wrote a speculation article a while back:
http://codeknot.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-wii-mote-works.html
(sorry for the blogspam, but is the only site I have access to that might survive a digg) - PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13I was in GameStop yesterday. I draw you picture:
http://external.pathdaemon.com/sensitivity.png
...wow, that was better in my mind than in life. Anyway, the two dots move according to the position and orientation of the Wiimote. At greater sensitivity you notice that the dots appear larger and smaller as the 'mote is angled toward the TV.
Could it be that there's a full-fledged IR camera in the 'mote, that could be modded into a regular camera? Oh, the possibilities. - zouden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11The remote calculates its distance from the bar by measuring the perceived distance between the two spots at each end of the bar. If the remote is further away, it looks like the spots are closer together, obviously. It's simple trigonometry, and very elegant :)
- synmoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9There is no 'pace' signal. Just 8 solid on IR LEDs.
My post in the comments there:
You’ve all touched on it, but not quite.
The sensor bar is comprised of 8 IR LEDs that are constant on as long as the Wii is on. Nothing more, nothing less.
These 8 IR LEDs are visible to the Wiimote. The Wiimote uses their position in it’s view to determine where it is pointing.
The sensor bar in no way has any relation to the accelerometer. - mromblad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7so then the wiiote is both a receiver and a transmitter?
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"do you figure it makes use of the doppler affect to tell if you move it closer or farther from the sensor bar?"
Sensing the doppler effect at the scale of IR light frequencies would require extremely precise sensors, and I doubt the Wiimote camera is able to do that. But I guess you were being sarcastic.
The reason why the IR lights on the sensor bar presumably flash, is to differenciate them from interfering light sources. - Apreche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7If you do calibration in monkey ball you can see how it works. The sensor bar has two infra-red LEDs in it. The wiimote has a low-resolution infra-red camera in it. The monkey ball calibration shows you what the wiimote camera sees. It works just like an optical mouse. Of course, the wiimote also has accelerometers in it. The sensor bar is juts for the pointing aspect of the device. Tilting and turning the wiimote, like in excite truck, has nothing to do with the "sensor" bar at all.
My friend is probably going to make a separate power supply for the sensor bar so he doesn't have to plug it into his wii. He has a projector, so the wii and the equipment are all behind him. He has to run the sensor bar all the way to the front of the room. The cable is long enough, but it still sucks. Really, someone could easily start selling battery powered sensor bars.
There's a catch though. The LEDs in the sensor bar blink according to some schedule. If that blinking is an unchanging pattern, then it's ok. If that blinking is actually synchronized with something the Wii is doing, then there's a problem. - Guspaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7As a note, the Wiimote's IR camera is said to have a resolution of one megapixel (roughly 1152x864), although I have no idea how often it takes a picture.
- alphaterminus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Only if you masturbate while staring directly into it.
- interiot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Note in the article summary, "send[sic] a pace signal". This clock signal probably has to be in-sync with the Wii, so it's probably not possible to disconnect it without more hackery.
- grumbel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Could anybody who is in possession of a Wii (none here, since I am in europe) do a few videos/photos demonstrating the "Wii Settings > Sensor Bar > Sensitivity" menu and the sensorbar (IR lights show up on most digicams)? Always wondered how those do exactly work, but so far couldn't get a good glimse of them, only a tiny few second one in one of the IGN demo videos.
- samadam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I would assume that the wii recieves some feedback on the current draw, so that would have to ben hacked too.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@raisinbrainMMM
I felt like that before I owned one and played it often, but since then I've changed my mind. I'm only playing on a 30" TV and the distance from the center of the screen to the sensor bar is about 10-12 inches. If you're a normal distance away from the TV that's a few degrees which isn't really that much in intense action.
It's not really that bad, and not noticeable when you're busy kicking ass. - mikeazorin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's possible to capture Bluetooth signals. I doubt Nintendo would consider encrypting the data that the Wiimote sends, unless they consider it a trade secret.
- JonXP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5From what I've noticed (haven't taken the oscilloscope out yet) I think there actually is a slight modulation to the signal. The camera isn't fast enough to pick up normal IR modulation frequencies like remotes use, but it does send out a syncing pulse to make sure the Wiimote is looking at the "right" IR source every once in a while/
- Zipp425, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Couldnt you in theory create your own sensor bar then?
- ahawks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Let's be realistic... homebrew wiimote stuff might show up for the PC, but it will never be as polished as it is on the Wii.
Yes, you will need the sensor bar for pointer functionality. Bluetooth homebrew would probably, at best, allow accelerometer data. - Wildthing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5does anyone know if infrared lights are bad for your eyes?
- Guspaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The distance to the TV is trivial to calculate based on the distance between the sensor bar's lights. They're a fixed physical distance from eachother, so the distance to the TV can be precisely calculated based on that.
For distance, though, the accelerometers are used. The Wiimote tracks its location via dead reckoning when it can't see the sensor bar, and re-calibrates itself when it can. - carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7i thought you said ben heck, as in ben heckerdorn. heheh
do you figure it makes use of the doppler affect to tell if you move it closer or farther from the sensor bar?
also, hasn't it been known for some time that the sensor bar was only some IR leds? - jwasko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You people and your "science." What ever happened to magic? You do know that science is what magic turns into when unimaginative people like you doubt magic, don't you? If it weren't for you and your ilk, thousands...nay, millions of high school students wouldn't have to suffer through physics and chemistry classes. Not to mention biology.
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By the way, I'm a Chemistry major. Although I really do hate biology. - nrfx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well, this is REALLY easy to figure out how it works.. anyone with a wii, get out a digital camera, and aim it at your sensor bar.. you should be able to see the IR leds (they'll show up purple) in your digital view finder.. mm.. cant wait to try this when i get home! (this will also work with your camera phone)
- joquarky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Using a digital camera, I see ten total LEDs: five on each side, with the three middle LEDs spaced evenly from each edge LED in both sets, like so:
[_o_ooo_o_____________________o_ooo_o_]
Here's a photo from a 1 megapixel digital camera about 2-3 feet away:
http://www.josef.org/temp/Wii_Sensor_Bar_LEDs.jpg
(TV is off) - interiot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Sooooo... Since the Wii-mote connects via bluetooth, and it may be possible in the near future to get the Wii-mote to connect to a PC, might it be possible to read this pointer data from the Wii-mote? Or would the PC have to be aware of the Wii's "pace signal"?
- whiteEEnerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, it does both. The Bluetooth spec both sends and receives. What exactly they are sending and receiving is still a mystery, to me anyway.
- cdawzrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In this article, by "receiver" they mean it looks at a picture of the infrared spectrum and interprets it to determine where the "Sensor Bar" is. It "receives" infrared light, but its *data* transmission is through Bluetooth-- It sends control data out, and receives data back for controller number, rumble/sound, etc.
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