Wii Remote headtracking and active projector
Contents
Part 1: project profile
Project name
Analysis and implementation of headtracking with the Wii Remote.
Analysis and implementation of an active projector with the Wii Remote.
Project short description
This project is aimed at studying possible applications of the Wii Remote built-in infrared camera.
Dates
Start date: 2008/03/26
End date: 2008/09/10
People involved
Project head(s)
Other Politecnico di Milano people
V. Caglioti
Students currently working on the project
A. Sansottera
R. Sarati
T. Vit
Laboratory work and risk analysis
Laboratory work for this project will be mainly performed at AIRLab/Lambrate. It will include significant amounts of mechanical work as well as of electrical and electronic activity. Potentially risky activities are the following:
- Use of soldering iron. Standard safety measures described in Safety norms will be followed.
Part 2: project description
The Wii Remote is the input device of the Nintendo Wii, a videogame console. The communication between the Wii Remote and the console happens through a standard Bluetooth connection. Therefore, the Wii Remote can be connected to a PC with a bluetooth adapter.
The Wii Remote has some interesting functionalities for its price tag. In particular, it features a three-axis accelormeter and a high-performing infrared camera.
The resolution of the infrared camera is 1024x768 and the samples are acquired at a 100 Hz rate. The Wii Remote also includes a microprocessor, which performs blob-tracking of up to four infrared light sources. The Nintendo Wii - as well as a properly set-up PC - can poll the Wii Remote for the coordinates of the four infrared light sources.
It has been demonstrated that the infrared camera can be used to perform headtracking. The user should wear a pair of glasses with two groups of infrared lights, pointing toward the screen. The Wii Remote should be placed under the TV, pointing forward. In this way, proper triangulation can be done and the position of the user relative to the screen can be computed. The software, running on the PC, can adjust properly adjust the camera in the rendering of the 3D scene.
Another possible application of the Wii Remote is the implementation of an active projector. Pointing the Wii Remote toward a screen or a projected image, the position of a "light pen" can be tracked. An initial calibration allows the software running on the PC to reconstruct the homography which transforms the points on the screen into the points in the image plane. Therefore, the "light pen" can be used as an input device. The "light pen" is simply a pen with an infrared light source on its tip. Multiple pens (up to four) can also be used. A further improvement could be the automatic calibration of the projector (two homography have to be reconstructed and thus two calibrations are required).
