Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Studies and works in progress (4)

A lot of publications are available around the world. This article gives, again, a short overview of two of them. Furthermore, some "works in progress" about a wiimote use have been noticed, here :


Object [Title]
Location

Publication – Research article / 2007
[ Wii-trieve: Retrieving Motion Sequences Using Acceleration Data of the Wii Controllers ]
University of Hawaii, Hilo

WWW

Reference : Link- Document : PDF(presentation)

Author
(date)

Ms. Yekaterina Kharitonova
(2007)

Lang. : English

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel approach for retrieving user-specified motions using the acceleration information obtained from Wii controllers. The major focus of this work is to develop a system, which would help professional animators as well as common users to extract a specified motion fragment from a motion capture database using the acceleration information obtained from the Wii controllers.

FWIIne
model

unavailable

Comment

Clear presentation about gesture recognition from Wiiremote acquisition

Rate

wwwww





Object [Title]
Location

Proceedings2nd International Conference Monitoring sleep and sleepiness with new sensors within medical and industrial applications / 2007
[ Using a game controller for online wireless recording of posture and activity ]
Brain Work Research Center, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Tampere, Finland

WWW

Reference : Link- Document : PDF(save as)

Author
(date)

Mr. Jussi Virkkala
(
June 3-5, 2007
)

Lang. : English

Summary

Evaluation of the Wii controller and a standard medical device as a wireless posture and activity recorder

FWIIne
model

unavailable

Comment

This detailled comparison between two devices for medical and research use informs us about the potential uses of the Wii remote, seriously.

Rate

wwwww


And now, projects in progress :


Domain

Title

Web site / ref.

Education/

Project

Evaluating the potential of the Nintendo Wii to support disabled students in education -
Elaine Pearson and Chris Bailey -
Accessibility Research Centre, School of Computing

University of Teesside

Link / PDF

M.S. Thesis

Affordable Gesture Recognition Based Avatar Control System -
Jun Ki Lee -
MIT Media Lab

Link / PDF(1) / PDF(2)

B.S. Project

Pilotage manuel d'un robot cartésien 4 axes à partir d'une manette Wiimote -
Projet TER de License 2007-2008 -
Laboratoire d’Automatique du DGM - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan - Université Pierre et Marie Curie

Link / PDF

Project

Manipulating Proteins in PyMOL with a Wii Remote -
Project Proposal for BME220 -
Jack Baskin School of Engineering, UC Santa Cruz


(*)

Link / PDF

Senior Thesis

Virtual Wiiality – Senior Thesis Project Plan -
Joel Clemens -
McMaster University Hamilton, Canada

Link / PDF

Senior Thesis

Exploration of Wii -Senior Thesis Project Plan -
University of Aizu, Japan

Link / PDF



(*)

PyMOL with Wii Controller (from YouTube)



Friday, January 25, 2008

fWIIne release 0.1 is available @ sourceforge

The release 0.1 has just been uploaded for download.
You can download source files and/or files for Matlab and Simulink.

All the files were available since 2 days inside CVS but some troubles
were encountered with CVS.
Now, this release is the better way to download it.
The release note and specifications will come soon.

fWIIne @ http://sourceforge.net/projects/fwiine/
------------------------

La release 0.1 vient d'etre rendue librement telechargeable.
Vous pouvez telecharger le code source et/ou les binaires et autres
fichiers Matlab et modèle Simulink.

Les fichiers sources étaient déjà à votre disposition sous CVS
depuis 2 jours mais leur gestion a posé des problèmes.
Le bordereau de livraison ainsi que les spécifications viendront par la suite.

fWIIne @ http://sourceforge.net/projects/fwiine/
------------------------

Acquisition of IR1(x,y,t) with fWIIne

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Studies (3)

As It was expected, other people also tried to interface the Wiimote with Matlab. Interesting to discover their work and to think about our common ideas and our encountered troubles, extrapolations and limitations of the wiimote as a "engineered device" :


Object [Title]
Location

Master Thesis, Master of Science, Biomedical Engineering / Dec. 2007
[ Creating New Visualization and Human Interface Devices for Therapeutic Video Games ]
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ

WWW

Reference : Link - Document : PDF(presentation) – PDF(abstract) – PDF(Document)

Author
(date)

Mr. Kunal Jayant Doshi
(2007/12/30)

Lang. : English

Summary

Virtual reality (VR) gaming environment as a tool for rehabilitation of patients with upper extremity disorders is fast gaining momentum. VR based motor training systems provide an engaging, motivating and adaptable environment where the motion of the limb displayed in the virtual world is a replication of the motion produced in the real world by the patient’s extremity.
The goal of this thesis was to create a generic gaming system which can be interfaced to a number of different Human interface devices (HID) and produce rich graphics to create a virtual environment which closely resembles the real world. This would overcome the current limitations of the ‘HANDS UP’ game developed by the Neuromuscular lab which accepts only a web camera input and uses color marker detection to recreate the limb movements in simple two dimensional environment.
Three dimensional worlds designed in Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) were controlled using SIMROBOT and Virtual reality toolbox in MATLAB to create better visualization. The Human Interface devices currently used for Virtual Reality video games are expensive and cannot be used for home use. Various new HID’s like the Flock of Birds® from Ascension, Nintendo Wiimote and IMU 6 DOF V3 were tested for their use in the virtual gaming environment. Each device presented their own set of advantages and problems. The thesis work involved understanding and resolving these problems and interfacing the devices with the gaming system.

FWIIne
model

(updated : 16/04/2008)

A M-file and a DLL are available for testing Matlab with the Wiimote. The file wii_data_acquisition.m provides plots from the accelerometer.

Comment

Kunal J. Doshi is what I must call a "peer" in learning and developing applications with Matlab and the wiimote.
Indeed, by following the same way as the project fwiine, he succeeded in developing his own mex-command, earlier. Moreover, he made a great overview of similar devices to the wiimote for biomedical purposes.

Rate

wwwww


YouTube video : "Connecting Wiimote to PC and accessing data in Matlab"




Object [Title]
Location

Rapport de projet – Cours sur les interfaces multimodales / 2007
[ Lecteur Multimeodial ]

Université de Fribourg, Suisse

WWW

Reference :Link- Document : PDF(save as)

Author
(date)

Mrs Christophe GISLER et Denis BOSSY
(20 juin 2007)

Lang. : French

Summary

This is a bachelor project at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Fribourg, Swiss.

It was asked for students to conceive a multimodal application. The aim of the team was to develop an intuitive and multimodal device which was collecting voice and wiimote features. The report describes the application features and the basis for this development. Then the program can handle video and audio files.


FWIIne
model

unavailable

Comment

Nice introduction to multimodal devices with the wiimote.

Rate

wwwww


Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Articles, Publications (2)

Dans le domaine des sciences physiques, deux travaux intéressants portant sur l'utilisation de la wiimote à des fins pédagogiques :

Object [Title]
Location

Article "Union des Professeurs de Physique et de Chimie - Section Académique de Strasbourg"
[ Utilisation de la Wiimote en sciences physiques ]
TZR – Lycée Lavoisier – Mulhouse

WWW

Reference : Liens - Document : PDF(save as)

Lang. : Français

Author
(date)

Mr. Wulfran FORTIN - Professeur Agrégé de Sciences Physiques
(2007/08/28)

Summary

La société Nitendo a mis sur le marché une nouvelle console de jeu : la Wii. Cette console peut recevoir jusqu'à 4 joueurs simultanément. Ces joueurs utilisent chacun une manette de jeu particulière : la Wiimote.
Cette manette communique avec la console de jeu grâce à une liaison radio (borne Bluetooth) et la console peut communiquer avec la Wiimote grâce à une liaison infra rouge. La Wiimote , pour détecter les mouvements du joueur, possède trois accéléromètres (trois axes). Il est possible d'intercepter les informations fournies par les trois accéléromètres grâce à un PC muni d'une cléf usb-bluetooth, et en utilisant des logiciels gratuits.
Dès lors, on pourra utiliser la Wiimote pour analyser des mouvements classiques en physique : chute libre ou parabolique, accélération, freinage, freinage par parachute, chocs mous.
Cet article présente deux façons de récupérer les données de la Wiimote.

FWIIne
model

unavailable

Comment

Une présentation claire, concise et très efficace d'une application éducative dédiée à la wiimote

Rate
wwwww





Object [Title]
Location

Article European Journal of Physics / 2007
[ Low-cost accelerometers for physics experiments ]
CNR—Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata, Dipartimento di Fisica—Università di Firenze, Italy

WWW

Reference :Link- Document : PDF(save as) 2007 Eur. J. Phys. 28 781-787 doi:10.1088/0143-0807/28/5/001

Lang. : English

Author
(date)

Mrs Maurizio Vannoni from the Instituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata and Samuele Straulino from the Università di Firenze
(6 July 2007)

Summary

[...]
To teach students concepts in dynamics and kinematics such as force, velocity and acceleration, Vannoni and Straulino used the intact Wii remote to measure acceleration of a swinging pendulum. They connected the remote to a PC via Bluetooth, and used software to interpret data from the accelerometers to numerically and graphically calculate the pendulum’s position, velocity, and acceleration.
The Wii remote was attached to the bottom of a weight tied to a nylon wire, with the IR camera pointing to the floor. An IR LED was positioned on the floor just below the pendulum rest position so that the camera could only see the LED when close to the resting position. As the pendulum swung, displacement data was submitted to the PC in real time for later analysis by students.

The physicists also used the Wii to demonstrate the forces involved in free-fall. While dropping the Wii remote from about 4 m into a box filled with foam, the accelerometers transmitted the free-fall data to a portable computer, again showing good results. The researchers suggest that the Wii could be used in many other physics experiments with minor adaptations.
“As an example of a real-word application, crash-test dummies contain several accelerometers: recorded values are examined and compared with human body tolerance limits,” Vannoni explained. “The used accelerometers are similar to those contained inside the Wii Remote. The free-fall of the Wii Remote into the box filled with foam is a sort of ‘crash-test’ (be careful about this setup, to avoid the real crash of the device).”

[...]

Citation: Vannoni, Maurizio and Straulino, Samuele. “Low-cost accelerometers for physics experiments.” Eur. J. Phys. 28 (2007) 781-787.

with courtesy of PhysOrg.com


FWIIne
model

unavailable

Comment

A short description is freely available, only.
Without any review, it hasn't been rated, here.
Nevertheless, the object is 100% in relation with fWIIne's theme.

Rate

?????





Overviews, Studies (1)

I would like to start this new category by introducing two studies (two university projects with link to the reports) around the Wiimote and its capabilities. Indeed, this category will deal with all
interesting publications around the world and about an experiment use of the wiimote :


Object [Title]
Location

Master Thesis, Continuation Courses Space Science and Technology / 2007:079
[ Wireless teleoperation of robotic arms ]
Lulea (Helsinki) University of Technology

WWW

Reference : Link - Document : PDF(save as) - ISSN 1653-0187 / ISRN LTU-PB-EX--07/079--SE / NR 2007:079

Author
(date)

Mr. Filippi, Hannes
(2007/07/22)

Lang. : English

Summary

Robots are designed to help humans. Space robots are of particular importance as they aid or replace astronauts in difficult possibly dangerous extravehicular activities. However, robot intelligence and autonomy are still limited. Therefore, robots need to be supervised or directly teleoperated in order to accomplish complex tasks in diverse environments. The focus of this thesis is on wireless teleoperation of robotic manipulators. The literature review introduces the reader to space robotics and other relevant achievements and prospects. State-of-the-art techniques of teleoperation on Earth as well as in space are examined. A damped least squares algorithm was developed to solve the inverse inematics problem and avoid joint limits, thus enabling continuous teleoperation of simulated robot arms. The motion sensing capabilities of the Wii remote controller by Nintendo are analyzed with regard to the possible use as teleoperation interface device. Three different robot arms were simulated for this thesis and can be teleoperated using the Wii remote as input device. The robot arms comprise the Workpartner arms (TKK), a timber loader crane (Kesla) and the Lynx 6 robot arm (Lynxmotion). Three modes of teleoperation are implemented to give the operator a higher degree of control over the arm. The algorithm and the teleoperation modes have been demonstrated with the Lynx 6 robot arm and the Wii remote as input device.

FWIIne
model

unavailable

Comment

Filippi also performed a great job with a Matlab interface for the motion sensors of the Wiimote.
fWIIne is enough similar to his MEX command.
The source files comes from the open source project Wiim.

Rate

wwwww




Object [Title]
Location

Bachelorprojekt / 2007
[ Styring af objekter i 3D vha.Wii-controller ]

Datalogisk InstitutKøbenhavns Universitet (Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen)


WWW

Reference : Link - Document : PDF(save as)

Author
(date)

Mrs Lasse Jon Fuglsang Pedersen and Anders Sabinsky Tøgern
(13. juni 2007)

Lang. : Danish

Summary

This is a bachelor project at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen (DIKU). In this report we describe how we have developed a class library – WiiLib – that enables communication with and processing of data from a Wii-controller. The Wii-controller is an input device for Nintendo’s recent console – Wii. Since Nintendo has designed the controller in a way that makes it possible for it to communicate with a PC through Bluetooth, there is a motive of curiousity behind experimenting with the controller connected to a PC. The project also includes an implementation of a WiiLib-based extension to 3DOT; a 3D-engine in development at DIKU.
WiiLib makes it possible for an application to read estimates of the Wii-controller’s orientation and relative position. The estimates can be used to manipulate objects in a 3D environment and are calculated using several methods; among these an adaptive method which we have developed ourselves and described in the report. The result of the estimated orientation is satisfying usingWiiLib’s adaptive method, but loses precision when the controller is also exposed to non-rotational movement. The result of the estimated position, on the other hand, is not satisfying because it is heavily affected by noise and therefore only works under absolutely perfect conditions.


FWIIne

model

unavailable

Comment

Under estimation

Rate

?????


fWIIne v0.1 initial import into sourceforge

The Binary and source files of fWIIne software are available.
(cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@fwiine.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/fwiine co -P fWIIne)

Binaries + Matlab files (@root folder) :
fWIIne.mexw32 - fWIIne_description.m - fwiine_example.mdl - sfwiine.m - test_fwine.m

Sources files :
- cWii folder contains the Wiimote C++-library
- cWii_console folder contains the test application for thecWii library
- fWiine folder contains the source files for MEX.


You can compile the project with Visual Studio C++ 2005 Expr. Ed.

----------------------
http://sourceforge.net/projects/fwiine/

NB : As CVS is in a mess, I zipped src+bin files and I added file dependencies (.dll+.lib files)
(CVS does not support european-type characters)
----------------------
Les Fichiers binaires et source fWIIne sont disponibles
(cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@fwiine.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/fwiine co -P fWIIne)

Binaires + fichiers matlab (@ la racine du répertoire) :
fWIIne.mexw32 - fWIIne_description.m - fwiine_example.mdl - sfwiine.m - test_fwine.m

Fichiers sources :
- le répertoire cWii contient la librairie C++ pour communiquer avec la Wiimote
- le répertoire cWii_console contient une application de test de la livrairie cWii
- le répertoire fWiine contient les fichiers sources du fichier MEX pour Matlab


Le projet peut être compilé avec Visual Studio C++ 2005 Exp. Ed.

----------------------
http://sourceforge.net/projects/fwiine/

NB : Comme le server CVS est en désordre j'ai zippé les fichiers src+bin et ajoutée les dépendences (.dll+.lib files)
(CVS ne supporte pas les polices de caractères européens)
----------------------

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

fWIIne v0.1 tutorial

Binary files @ : fWIIne_bin_v0.1_ (2008-01-19). Zip

how to start a simulation with fwiine

Just a tuto...
Hope this tutorial will clarify you how to start a simulation with fWIIne.
1. unzip binary files (Open Source files will be available on 1-2 weeks)
2. initialize Bluetooth connection
3. Launch WiinRemote software (for init. and close it)
4. Start simulation (fwiine_example.mdl) with Simulink
5. Make nice project !

http://fwiineur.blogspot.com
fWIIne enables communication between Wiimote(Wii Remote) and Matlab/Simulink (up to 7.0)
---

Juste un tuto...
En espérant que ce tutoriel vous permettra de mieux comprendre comment démarrer une simulation avec fWIIne.
1. décompressez les fichiers zipped (les fichiers open source seront dispo dans 1 à 2 semaines)
2. Initializez l'appairage de la wiimote (bluetooth)
3. Lancez le logiciel WiinRemote (pour l'init. et le fermer)
4. Démarrez la simulation (fwiine_example.mdl)
5. Faites de chouettes projets !

http://fwiineur.blogspot.com
fWIIne est une interface de communication entre la Wiimote(Wii Remote) et Matlab/Simulink (>7.0)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

fWIIneur v0.1 released (version française)

fWIIne, qu'es aqo ?

"Fonctions pour WIImote et pour l'ingéNiEur"

L'objectif de ce projet est de disposer d'un module de bibliothèque/Fonction spécifique pour l'ingénierie de logiciels (et autres logiciels divers, au passage)

Tout d'abord, les développements de logiciels vont se concentrer sur la MEX DLL fWIIne pour établir la communication entre la Wiimote et Matlab/Simulink.


Qu'est ce fWIIne v0.1 ?

FWIIne v0.1 est une bibliothèque Open Source permettant l'acquisition des données des capteurs de la Wiimote sous Matlab/Simulink. Elle a été pensée pour le développement, le prototypage rapide ainsi qu'à des fins éducatives et de "loisirs éclairés".
FWIIne v0.1 vous permet de tester rapidement vos preuves de concepts avec Matlab.
sfwiine.m est une S-fonction vous permettant d'effectuer vos modélisations et vos simulations en «pseudo temps réel» avec une Wiimote.

Comment télécharger fWIINE ?

Le dossier sourceforge.net/projects/fwiine sera disponible sous peu après validation.
Les fichiers binaires sont dès à présent et temporairement disponibles @: fWIIne_bin_v0.1_ (2008-01-19). Zip

Comment utiliser fWIIne ?

0. Pré-requis:
- Ce programme a été testé sous Windows XP SP2 (avec WINDDK 3790,1830) et avec MATLAB 7.4 (version au-delà de 7.0) installé.
- Vous pouvez suivre plusieurs tutoriaux (1) (2) (3) pour installer le driver bluetooth.
- Vous aurez besoin d'un deuxième logiciel "wiimote-PC" afin de vérifier et d'initialiser l'acquisition InfraRouge "correctement" (comme WiinRemote v2007 v1.13).
- Vous pouvez extraire des fichiers zippés dans votre répertoire de travail Matlab.

1. Vous devez tout d'abord connecter votre wiimote à votre PC via bluetooth avant de lancer une simulation.

2. (Passez cette étape si vos acquisitions ne requièrent pas l'utilisation des capteurs infrarouge), Démarrer WiinRemote et vérifier que capteurs IR sont actifs :


Puis, vous pouvez fermer le logiciel.

3. Lancez Matlab

4. Court essai pour l'acquisition de données à partir de Matlab : test_fwiine.m

5. Pseudo acquisition temps réel avec simulink et wiimote : fwiine_example.mdl


Que faire avec fWIIne ?

Tout d'abord, j'ai utilisé la bibliothèque pour expérimenter la preuve de concept de Johnny Lee's en "Finger Tracking":



Et cela a bien fonctionné. Mmm, je ne compte pas le publier le modèle (extrêmement crac-cra...)


Fonctionnalités à venir :

- Certains problèmes connus doivent être résolus: IR initialisation, S-fonctions en C afin de permettre à fWIIne d'être utilisable dans des simulation en temps réel avec la lib RealTimeWorkshop.

- FWIIne pour Scilab, Octave. (Enfin pas prévu à moyen terme.)

- Des modèles Simulink supplémentaires

Perspectives :

Je souhaite que fWIIne accélère vos preuves de concept et que vous parviendrez, aussi, à l'utiliser à des fins pédagogiques.

fWIIneur v0.1 released (english version)

What's fWIIne ?

"Functions for WIImote 'N for Engineering"

The aim of this project is to provide a workpackage of library / Specific Function for Engineering Software (and miscellaneous software, by the way)

First, Software developments are focusing on the fWIIne MEX library to perform communication between Wiimote and Matlab/Simulink.


What's fWIIne v0.1 ?


fWIIne v0.1 is an Open Source MEX-library . It enables communication between Wiimote and Matlab/Simulink. It has been designed for development, rapid-prototyping, and for educational and leisure purposes.
fWIIne v0.1 allows you to experiment your ideas with Matlab, quickly.
S-function sfwiine.m allows you to make modeling and "pseudo real time" simulation with acquisition of Wiimote data.

How to download ?

sourceforge.net/projects/fwiine project folder will be available, soon.
Binary files are temporary available @ : fWIIne_bin_v0.1_(2008-01-19).zip

How to use it ?

0. Pre-requisite :
-This program was tested on Windows XP SP2 (with WINDDK 3790.1830) and MATLAB 7.4 (up to 7.0) installed.
- You can follow several tutorials (1) (2) (3) to install the bluetooth driver.
- You need an second "wiimote" software to check if IR acquisition is working properly and to initialize configuration(as WiinRemote v2007 v1.13).
- You can extract zipped files into your Matlab Working directory.

1. You must first connect your wiimote to your PC via bluetooth before running
the program.

2. (skip this step if you don't use IR sensor) You must start WiinRemote and see IR sensors are active

Then you can close it.

3. Launch Matlab

4. Short test for data Acquisition from Matlab : test_fwiine.m

5. Pseudo real time acquisition with simulink and wiimote : fwiine_example.mdl

What to do with ?

First, I used the library to experiment Johnny Lee's proof of concept for tracking fingers :


And It worked well (Mmm,I will not publish the (too much) "quick and dirty" model...)


Next features :

- known issues to be solved : IR initialization, C S-function to enable RealTimeWorkshop simulation with fWIIne

- fWIIne for Scilab, Octave. Well, not planned yet.

- more simulink models

Outlook :

I hope fWIIne will accelerate your proof of concept and I hope you will be able to use it for educational purposes, too.