Interactive Whiteboard using a wiimote

I can't believe it works, but it does!  Thanks to researcher Johnny Lee and his free sharing of his work, millions of people are now aware that you can use a wii remote, (be cool and call it a wiimote), to link to your computer via bluetooth communication and provide the basis for your own interactive whiteboard.

Instead of spending $3000-$5000 on an interactive whiteboard solution for a classroom, you can spend around $80 to have one that works well enough for a classroom.  I used the directions on his projects page and built an IR pen for $7 worth of parts from Radio Shack.

Still following his directions, I had to install a bluetooth adapter (USB plugin adapter) on a DELL computer. After that, I installed the software that Johnny Lee provided on his webpage.  Within minutes of installing, I was in business!

My Experience:

After seeing the TED demonstration last Friday, I was extremely hopeful that this solution would work out. I went to Radio Shack on Saturday and the Shackman said I was the second person in 30 minutes with the same scematic looking to build the wii pen.  I purchased two sets and had them built that evening.  That part was the easy part for me.

Reading the directions again, I realized that the missing assumption was that the computer was already setup with Bluetooth wireless. That will be another expense if you don't have Bluetooth already. My Macs would have done well, but the software and documentation that I found for the Mac was more spotty. I stuck with installing a Bluetooth adapter on a Dell laptop since my test classroom uses pc's anyway.

I have had difficulty installing different Bluetooth adapters into XP in the past. Sacraficing a 5" floppy disk on the Alter of Archaic Technology this morning seemed to work as the BTooth install went well. 

Johnny Lee's page then directs you to connect the wii to the computer via BlueSoleil connection software.  I followed a discussion thread that Johnny also has linked to, and found that many people are just using the Bluetooth connection software that came with their device.  So, I skipped the BlueSoleil part and tried to connect without it.  The BTooth icon in the tray opened up the device window and I searched for local devices. My wii was already turned on and it didn't pick up at first. I tried again holding down the 1 and 2 buttons and it was found. I then double-clicked the icon for the wii device, held down on the 1 and 2 buttons and soon was connected.  That easy.

My first attempt at checking the wii was done by placing the wii at about a 45 degee angle pointing towards the laptop screen.  I opened Johnny Lee's windows program and found the calibration button. I used my pen on the four calibration marks and was off and writing. (The video above.) It wrote pretty well and was pretty responsive.

My second attempt was a little worse off. During the classroom's luch break, I put the wiimote ontop of the projector facing the pull-down screen. Possible because the screen area was so large, the wiimote's viewing area wouldn't reach the top and bottom of the projected image. It calibrated, but I couldn't hit the Start menu. I put the wiimote off at an angle to the side of the screen so the pen would be more visible to the wiimote, but still had some problems getting the wiimote far back enough and at the right angle.  Eventually, a box of paperclips and some stickytack later, the wiimote saw the whole screen and calibrated.  But this time, the writing was spotty. When it wrote well, the drawing line was inconsistent. Because the screen was away from the wall, it would move and make clicking the draw tools difficult. I wonder if the speckled surface of the screen diffused any of the IR from the pen.  But it did work!

My next step is to build a wii stand that will suspend the wiimote at a good distance and proper height so there will be a more consistent reponse. I also want to check on the Mac software development.  Not having to install bluetoof on the computer would be a nice advantage.

My sincere thanks to Johnny Lee and all the development researchers and geeks who put this together.  I'm looking forward to more development so that classroom implementation will be even better and cheaper!

  people interested in wiimotes!