Wiimote Finger Tracking -FAQ and Adv Discussion

A lot of very smart people have written in questions and suggestions and I think a lot of them are very clever and worth sharing... and I'd like to add some of my own expansions on what I showed in the video. Like they say, 2 brains are better than 1.... it turns out several thousand brains are even better. This post will be REGULARLY EDITTED to add new ideas as they come in. I know it breaks the RSS model, but I don't want to make a new post for every new idea. Sorry.
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LED arrays from security cameras - online stores sell IR LED arrays for night vision security cameras. These should work perfectly for the wiimote.

Gloves - gloves exactly like minority report are definitely do-able and probably a good idea for repeated use.

LEDs on fingers - instead of tape you can use LED lights and do this without the LED array. But, you effectively create IR pens similar to the WiimoteWhiteboard demo which means batteries on the glove too.

Pinching with thumb and forefinger - the wiimote does upto 4 points. So both left and right thumb and finger could be tagged with reflective tape or LEDs. The software needs to be smart about maintaining the correct association and recognizing pinches, but very do-able.

Tagging a wiimote and knunchuck - getting the spatial location of another wiimote and knunchuck using a wiimote and reflective tape is an idea VERY much worth exploring. Now you get bi-manual (two handed) positional input in addition to all the accelerometer data and buttons.

Tracking fingers on surfaces (instead of the air) - unless it's a rear projection surface, the tape will be facing the wrong way... though you might be able to put the tape on the back of the fingers and figure out some method of triggering input. That said, it'll probably work well on a rear projection surface. You may need to offset the view angle of the wiimote so the support glass/acrylic won't retroreflect the light back to the wiimote. Alternatively, use active LED points.

Tagging objects on tables and projection- combining this method of tracking with projection is VERY powerful. This is essentially a field of research called Augmented Reality and will likely the be subject of a future video.

Posted by Johnny Chung Lee

i'm actually working on a design right now that is very much like the minority report

Hey,

because the wiimote can only track up to 4 points, which is not enough if you do an actual multitouch screen.

its really easy to modify the webcam to view IR (I did it in a few minutes, follow the link you posted above), and you have a really good library that gives you events such as "finger up", "finger down" and more here http://www.whitenoiseaudio.com/touchlib/ . This way you are not limited to only four fingers, and can use the wiimote for other things

Vadali

i still confused with hardware to Wiimote Finger Tracking......:hammer:
 
the detail request everything at beeds.......

Dear moderator and Johnny Chung Lee (I hope you still check in on this site).
I am working on a project for a science museum in which I'd like to have an overhead wiimote and led array set up to track exhibit visitors who would place a reflective tag/button or pin on their shoulders and then walk around.
On a projected image (map of oceans) their movements would be projected. The idea is to engage exhibit visitors in a simple location tracking model scenario, and then encourage them to delve into the exhibit, which demonstrated and illustrates how navigation and telemetry has evolved to allow satellite tracking of endangered species - like sea turtles. My challenge is in getting the initial wiimote and led array set up, and establishing a simple interface switching strategy so visitors could first see their location (tracked by the overhead wiimote, and their own shoulder badges) change as they move around in front of the exhibit. Their location would be projected atop one of a variety of map images, which could be toggled on or off.

Anyone have ideas on how to make this work really well? Can I track more than 5 locations at once? If not, can I use 2 wiimotes projected on a common screen? Can this all be run on a single netbook, and how/where can I get at an led array, or are their easy instructions on how to link individual leds on a piece of pegboard? How to power it all? ...etc.

Any/all suggestions or feedback are welcome.

Thanks,

Scott

My wiimote can't sound, and how can I do for it?

Hi, Me and a couple of friends made a software that works both on Linux and Windows
to use Johnny Lee's Finger Tracking concept to control your mouse cursor.

We are using gloves to use it for long periods of time.

Currently, only the right and left clicks works,
but we soon want to add dragging features (like when you maintain the left click to move a file to other folders), page scrolling and window resizing.

We are currently looking for volunteers to help with this work (as the project is Open Source).

If some of you want to participate here's the project's page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/wavy/
And here's our website (In french, though translation is getting near finished)
http://www.team-gm.net

To the sceptics, here's a video of us to a local science and technology contest (In french though it shows a bit
of the demonstration at the middle of the clip)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2iarkDX6Y" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2iarkDX6Y</a>

PM me for more details!