An interactive whiteboard for under £50 using a Wiimote Part 4

In the previous entries to my blog I have explained the following

1. The Wiimote interactive project

2. The paring of the Wiimote to the Bluetooth on my PC

3. How to make the Infra red pen

In this final installment I have made a short video to demonstrate how to set up the interactive whiteboard with a laptop and an LCD projector

Apologies for the poor video quality. I used Camtasia Studio to create the video and then produced it as a Windows Media file. I also produced a Quicktime file which was better quality, but the file size was 2.5 times larger, so I have stayed with the wmv file

Please feel free to contact me if you are keen to have a go yourself

Many thanks to Johnny Chung Lee for creating the software that lets you use the Wiimote like this

An interactive whiteboard for under £50 using a Wiimote Part 2

A week on from my first post, I have made some progress working in my spare time.

Chris Hall bought the Wiimote from Argos

The Bluetooth USB adaptor from CPC/Farnell also arrived on Wednesday.

My first task was to get the wiimote paired with the bluetooth adaptor

1. Installing the bluetooth sofware:

So far so good no problems with this, just insert the CD and install

2. Getting the bluetooth software to find the Wiimote

Wiimote found by bluetooth

This was also quite straightforward

3. Pairing the Wiimote with the bluetooth software

Bluetooth pairing

This caused a few headaches. There is no security code so you just click 'skip' and it should move to the next step.

However, the key to getting past this stage is to hold down keys 1 and 2 on the Wiimote continuously while clicking the 'skip' key.

This is not immediately apparent as once you have pressed keys 1 and 2 on the Wiimote the 4 blue LEDS remain lit for quite a while, so you think that it is communicating as it should.

4. Wiimote is paired

Wiimote paired

5. The next step is to get the interactive whiteboard software running. Having downloaded it from Johhny Chung's website (see first post) you need to read the 'Read me first'. Here it tells you that you need Microsoft (dot)Net 2.0.

You then need to make sure that the software is loaded from the archive root

Wiimote whiteboard software

6. Click on the Whiteboard exe file and you should get the calibration box. There are some help boxes if you have done something wrong.

7. Click on the calibration button and you get the calibration page

OK...so I have not make the IR pens yet, job for this weekend

BUT...I did bring in an old TV remote control just to check that something happened and hey presto it worked. I could not do anything because the TV remote outputs an IR code so the calibration does not work properly, but the test was good enough for me to move forward.

Can't wait for the next gripping installment eh?

An interactive whiteboard for under £50 using a Wiimote

The Wiimote is quite interesting in that it has an infrared sensor that is more than just a receiver like those on your TV. I have not looked too much into the detail but I have not seen anything like this before

Nintendo augmented the remote with an infrared image sensor on the front designed to locate two IR beacons within the controller's field of view.

These two sources of IR light are tracked by a sensor in the front of the Wiimote housing. By tracking the locations of these two points in the sensors 2D field of view, the system can derive more accurate pointing information.

More information can be found here

We thought we would have a go at making an interactive whiteboard ourselves.

If you're interested here are the steps to hopefully bring success:

1. The video showing how it works

2. How to make an IR pen

3. List of working bluetooth adaptors

4. List of parts from Farnell (Could not find what I wanted at Maplin)

5. A Wiimote from Argos

I'll blog about how we get on in time

If anyone in the UK has made one I'd be interested to know how you got on