The Wiimote with multiple sensor bars: creating an affordable, virtual reality controller (2009)

Torben Sko, Henry Gardner

Australian National Univeristy

paper

Comments: ...

This paper discusses using a Wii remote as a viable method to control a virtual reality system by using multiple sensor bars to define a much larger field of view for the Wii remote. This way, the Wii remote can be used across a surrounding display.

Five sensor bars were arranged in front of the user in a vertical position, as illustrated by the image above and by the video. Software allows the Wii remote to "bunny hop" from one sensor bar to another, since the Wii remote can only see 4 IR sources at one time, and one sensor bar contains 2 IR LEDs.

The researchers modified the Half Life 2 engine to create a game suitable for testing. The Wii remote was able to successfully track across the whole screen, allowing the user to play the game as normal.

The biggest limitation of this system comes from the "bunny hopping" feature of the Wii remote. Because it knows where it is based on the currently visible IR sources, it must be constantly pointed at the screen, which causes fatigue for the user.

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I was impressed at the effectiveness of this method. The video clearly shows that the Wii remotes are very adequate for precise aiming across the large 2-walled display. I think the limitation imposed by the Wii remote technology is not a big issue, since more specialized systems can create a controller that the user can set down and not keep aimed at the IR sources. The main contribution of this paper is that a Wii remote style or gun-style free-hand aiming system can be implemented for surround screen usage using inexpensive parts.

That being said, I would like to see them improve on this by allowing the user to rest and lower the controller away from the screen, whether they are able to do this with the Wii remote or some other hardware. Naturally, this demo makes me think of glove applications on this type of screen, though I don't have any specific ideas yet...