Dawn of the Geeks

I finally picked up a cheap USB Bluetooth adapter for my computer.  If you havn’t seen this video yet, you should watch it. It’s headtracking using the Wii Remote.

I have a Wii and a couple remotes but I needed the Bluetooth adapter to be able to start playing with it. The Wii Remote is actually a bluetooth device and software has been developed so anyone can develop games using the various Wii controllers (even the balance board now). The next step is of course to start coming up with projects.

The Wii remote works by tracking infrared LEDs. I wonder how difficult it would be to create a webcam app that would track say your eyebrows or your eyes. Eyetracking software exists but the way it works is that the camera is put close to the eye. The Wii Bar that goes on top of the TV simply contains some infrared LEDs and the controller has a screen that filters out everything except the light from those LEDs. Tracking any two locations will allow you to calculate distance and rotations. If you could track eyebrows or the general location of the eyes you could accomplish the same 3D trick that is done in the video with just a webcam.