How the Wiimote Works

The New York Times' 'How it Works' series touches on a remote with a twist: the Nintendo Wiimote. The article describes the micron-sized machines that make it work, displays cut-away graphics of the little white marvel, and rounds out the discussion with a breakdown of where the tech came from. From the article: "The controller's most-talked-about feature is the capacity to track its own relative motion. This enables players to do things like steer a car by twisting the remote in the air or moving a game character by tilting the remote down or up. 'This represents a fabulous example of the consumerization of MEMS,' the tiny devices known as micro-electro-mechanical systems, said Benedetto Vigna, general manager of the MEMS unit at STMicroelectronics, a leading maker of the accelerometers embedded in the controllers. (Nintendo itself declined to talk about the controllers' inner workings.) He said the motion sensors, using the technology that activates vehicle air bags, can accurately sense three axes of acceleration: up and down, left to right, and forward and backward."

Comments

What?

[drinkypoo]

He said the motion sensors, using the technology that activates vehicle air bags

This is fucking hilarious. I will proceed to let you know precisely how most vehicle air bags are activated.

It is true that in the more modern vehicles there is ONE accelerometer per direction of air bag. This is used to set off air bags other than the front. There is usually one accelerometer to set off the front air bag.

HOWEVER this is not the only input. In fact it takes two inputs to set off the air bag. One input is that accelerometer sensor. The other input is either crash sensor mounted in or near the front bumper.

This is the hilarious part - these sensors typically consist of a magnet, a ball bearing, a ramp, and a set of contacts with another magnet. A sufficient shock will break the ball bearing free of the magnet, at which point it rolls up the ramp (again, if the shock is enough) and sticks to the other magnet, closing the switch contacts.

So what this guy is saying is that the technology in the Wiimote utilizes is a combination of an accelerometer and a ball bearing rolling up a ramp.

Seatbelt? High-tech shit! --Carlin