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Tracking your fingers using a Wii Remote

video Tracking your fingers using a Wii Remote

If you've ever wanted to interact with a computer by waving your hands in the air, you can with a Wii remote, some IR leds, and some reflective tape. The IR camera in the front of the Wii remote is sensitive to sources of infrared light.

If you create an IR LED array around the Wiimote and use some retro-reflective tape, any object you can put the tape on will reflect enough infrared light to be seen. This video will walk you through the steps of how that works and what you can do with it.

The demo grid program is downloadable from my website at http://johnnylee.net

27 comments

Mar 27, 2010. 12:40 PMrecordmasta001 says:

I think you are a wizzard! Very clever. One Question, could you use a LED on a finger and then a Wiimote on your monitor and controll your pc with it? Like a combo of your two instructables - the pen device (or in my case a LED glove) and a wiimote facing away from the monitor like on the structable??
thanks

Sep 24, 2008. 8:56 AM

imshanedulong says:

Couldn't you get 2 IR LED's from old TV remotes and attach 1 to each finger, Then power them up separately with a button cell (a.k.a. watch battery) on the wrist? That would be cool and you don't need the array.

Mar 22, 2010. 3:48 PMDesertman123 says:

Really really late response but yes. The array and tape just make your fingers emit IR comfortably.

Dec 30, 2008. 9:53 AMlolcat360 says:

Think of the fun you could have with that in Wii Sports!

Nov 7, 2008. 6:58 AMcasey321b says:

why not use gloves with IR LED and not have to reflect them... :P

Jan 4, 2008. 2:09 PMweretater says:

Hey, what do you have to use as a Bluetooth receiver for your computer? Is it a Dongle or what? And what if you wanted to click the mouse wirelessly? How would you do that? Thanks

Sep 29, 2008. 3:51 PMsoulreaverdoug says:

USE a dongle is cheap you can buy it for about 10 box and run the bluesoleil software included u can use the wiimote asa mouse but must download this software in order to all the connection works it{so called wiinremote 2007 run it when your wiimote is in human interface mode and then run the Johnnie chung lee app thats all any doubt? add my msn soulreaver3856@hotmail.com password to recognize you "wiimote"

Sep 24, 2008. 3:50 AMstyles420 says:

Why not put the tape on the fingers of a nice pair of gloves? Also, try putting the tape on the back of the finger tip, so that it reflects when the fingers are curved - like you're grabbing the point with a pincher action. Finally, try mounting the wiimote in a box with a clear pane so that you have a surface to touch - maybe even point it at an lcd screen you can hold in your lap (oh I don't know, maybe a laptop?), with a little calibration it could line up properly

Sep 6, 2008. 9:53 AMNT86 says:

this would be so much fun with google earth. is it possible to do the two finger movements on programs like google earth?

Aug 14, 2008. 8:37 AMwoot master says:

woot! thanx but wat about the buttons?

Aug 8, 2008. 11:23 PMinvert360 says:

this is one of the best ideas i have seen all year

Jul 30, 2008. 10:13 AMcubester808 says:

the caps didnt (work)

Jul 30, 2008. 10:13 AMcubester808 says:

u = rok = man!

Jul 29, 2008. 2:39 PMStorm950 says:

JCL, one of the biggest ninty legends!

Jul 14, 2008. 5:11 PMsteed1172 says:

w00t :) this is weirdly fun..

Jun 30, 2008. 6:22 AMsambam2006 says:

For the people who are after IR leds then go here. I got mine from there. They come in strips. Easy installation took me five minutes. Shipping takes over a week. Contact him and leave him a message of your requirements etc.

http://youshare.co.uk/iphoneworld/form1211626325.php

May 30, 2008. 9:10 AMlilpancake says:

what if i put led lights on my fingers?

Jun 9, 2008. 9:45 PMcorl45 says:

that would work too. because the Wii remote detects the IR rays, just make sure u get IR LEDs.

Apr 11, 2008. 3:27 PMBartboy says:

SWEEEEEEET!

Apr 8, 2008. 9:25 AMitsme16688 says:

gloves?

Mar 22, 2008. 10:36 PMimarzouka says:

Use this LED calculator to help you design the IR LED array.

http://ledcalculator.net

Mar 16, 2008. 10:33 AM

westin says:

Awesome, im gonna try this out.

Mar 14, 2008. 7:57 PMjdisco says:

That is awesome! This just made me want a WII.

Jan 17, 2008. 2:14 PMArtLizard says:

Don't know if I will do this But this ROCKS.. I love the look. With you doing this it makes the movie no so special.... I can do it ..... SSSSWWWEEEETTTT!

Jan 2, 2008. 1:33 AMstmurik says:

Great instructable, thanks!

Dec 30, 2007. 7:53 AMschorhr says:

Awesome!
Together with http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/research/rigid/index.html
that would be an affordable animation solution for kids!

Dec 29, 2007. 3:47 PMpejoka says:

Absolutely terrific! Love the idea, and I'm grateful for the discussion of how the Wii remote interacts with the sensor bar. I tried to get to your site for the grid demo code since that appears to do most of "the hard part", but it was too busy! Congratulations on a great project. One question: have you tried using a bit of gel and tiny glass beads on your fingers as retroreflectors? They are the active ingredient in retroreflective paint and presumably also in the sheet material.