Hacking the Wiimote and Wii Fit to Help the Disabled

DEF CON 17

Presented by: Steven Adair, Sherri Davidoff, Matt Richard
Date: Friday July 31, 2009
Time: 11:30 - 11:50
Location: Track 2
Track: Track 2

People like Johnny Chung Lee have shown us that the Wiimote can be used as a bluetooth IR camera that tracks the spatial location of up to four IR LEDs. Applying this work to a new application, we have adapted the Wiimote and the Wii Fit into a low cost system to help disabled individuals to interface with a computer. By combining the movement of head mounted LEDs and measurement of weight distribution of the lower body (ie "butt-movement"), users are able to provide input gestures. The system uses the gesture recognition engine originally designed by makers of the iPhone.

Our setup can also be used by normal individuals for a heightened gaming experience. This talk will feature a live demonstration of the interface and uses of the hardware. The only question that remains is "Would you like to play a game?".

Josh Marks

<strong>Grungy or Josh Marks</strong>, for official purposes, is a Junior Electrical Engineer at the University of Delaware. He has had experience doing research and has recently presented at Schmoocon V about low cost systems engineering. However, he is a rather confused Electrical Engineer who can be found breaking various electronics around the lab while trying to hack them together or creating flashy new light displays, but secretly dreaming about steam boilers, reactors, and biology at night. Someday he wishes to combine Electrical Engineering and power generation methods to develop efficient and interesting applications for current and future technological energy needs.

Rob Rehrig

<strong>Rob 'roB3AR' Rehrig</strong> is an electrical engineering student at the University of Delaware. He wants to go to grad school after he graduates from UD and take more of a focus on acoustical engineering so that one day he will be able to start his own sound equipment company. Rob has been interested in acoustics ever since he got his first tape player when he was little. Other interests of his are drawing, graphic design, running, and messing around on his computer. Rob has had previous experience working with infrared communication last winter when he helped develop a low cost personal security system with his classmates. Rob and his classmates presented their results at Shmoocon V.

Larry Aiello

<strong></strong> is a computer engineering student at the University of Delaware. He became interested in computers when he built his own during high school to save money and still uses and upgrades it to this day. He plans to go to graduate school to earn his Masters. Other hobbies of his include weight training, skiing, and playing lots of video games. Like Josh and Rob, Larry was also on the team creating a low cost security system last winter, where he designed an algorithm that uses an infrared lighting trip system to detect if people were moving into or out of an area.


KhanFu - Mobile schedules for INFOSEC conferences.
Mobile interface | Alternate Formats