The Mechanics of Motion Sensing

Dr. Eggman writes, "The AP has a short technology piece on the mechanics that go into the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii and PS3 controllers. It also details some of the past uses of the technology and gives a nice overview of just how far the technology has come from the earliest missile-guidance sensor equipment."

Comments

Re:Other applications

[MankyD]

It would be cool to incorporate this type of controller into a portable device. You could have portable laser-tag like games with real-time mapping

While it would definitely be cool, you can't really use accelerometers as location devices. Accelerometers and, to a lesser degree, odometers both do a pretty terrible job of keeping track of where an object is located. That's why the Wii also includes a sensor bar.

They'll generally give you pretty good readings for a single movement, like 'the object just moved 1 meter forwards', however as soon as you turn or travel a long distance, they suffer from drifting, skidding, and general measurement errors.

A different sort of tech would be needed for mapping. You can do some research into Robotics, such Markov Localization, for some more information. GPS and related techs are better for real time location reporting.

Oh CNN

[bunions]

Sony Corp.'s "Sixaxis" controller for the PS3 also has an accelerometer. The six axises the name refers to are the three dimensions of space, plus three axises of spin. The company hasn't revealed who makes the chip.

Axises?? How can you mispluralize one of the most entertaining plurals around? Axes, dammit.

Re:Very odd

[the.Ceph]

Consumer gear is often behind military tech. Perhaps you have heard of velcro, or GPS, or the internet.