Wiimote in Physics Education
ESA's 2011 Teachers Summer Workshop
Noordwijk, the Netherlands, 11-14 July 2011.
Michalis Orfanakis
Science Teacher, MSc Physics
Gymnasium Koutsouras, Lyceum Makri Gialos
Ierapetra Crete, Greece
What is Wiimote;

The Wii Remote, is the primary controller
for Nintendo's Wii console.
A main feature of the Wii Remote is its
motion sensing capability, which allows the
user to interact with and manipulate items on
screen via gesture recognition and pointing
through the use of accelerometer and
optical sensor technology
Another feature is its expandability through
the use of attachments (i.e. Wii Classic
Controller, Wii Zapper, Nunchuk)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Remote
Non typical use of Wiimote

Wiimote can be used apart from Wii console

Since the release of the Wii console, people have been exploring
different new ways in which to use the Wii Remote.

Programmer Johnny Lee has posted video demos and sample code
at his website related to the use of the Wii Remote for finger
tracking, low-cost interactive whiteboards, and head tracking
for desktop VR displays.
http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

Studies have also been conducted to use the Wii Remote as a practice
method to fine-tune surgeons' hand motions.
Utilizing DarwiinRemote (for Mac users), researchers at the University
of Memphis have adapted the Wii Remote for data collection in
cognitive psychology experiments.
Autodesk has released a plugin that allows the Wii Remote to control
orientation of 3D models in Autodesk Design Review.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Remote
Wiimote Interactive Whiteboard
There are several demo videos in YouTube that
provide guidance on how you could transform the
classic whiteboard, your laptop display or your TV
screen to an Interactive Whiteboard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKL5VjqoLXQ&NR=1
Wiimote in Physics Education
WiiMote Physics is an application that
allows you to retrieve data from your
WiiMote or Balance Board and display it
in real-time.
 It has a number of predefined modes of
operation in order to make acceleration
or position measurements.
 It's developed in C#.

Wiimote Physics Software
http://wiimotephysics.codeplex.com/
Wiimote Connection to Computer



When installing Wiimote software your will be prompt
to install Microsoft’s NetFramework 4.0
After installing Wiimote software, establish bluetooth
connection between Wiimote and your Computer
To do so switch on Wiimote and press simoultaneously
1 and 2 button (Now the Wiimote searches for
bluetooth devices)
Wiimote Connection to Computer
Open the bluetooth application of your Computer and
press “Add a device” (Now your Computer is searching
for bluetooth devices)
 Most Important: Pair Wiimote and Computer without
using any code.
 If your bluetooth driver does not support pairing
without code then you should install another driver i.e.
BlueSoleil (http://www.bluesoleil.com/) Not for Free
 Start Wiimote Physics Software

Using the Wiimote Physics
Simple Harmonic Oscillation
Data
Further information on
Wiimote Physics
WiiMote Physics Home
 WiiMote Physics Software
 YouTube videos
 Star Stryder webpage
 Φυσικά Πειραματικά

Further information on
Wiimote Whiteboard
Johny Lee’s webpage
 Wii Project Whiteboard
 Wii Teachers
 YouTube

Further information on
Wiimote used as a mouse
YouTube
 GlovePie Software
 Wiimote mouse script for GlovePie
