Sunday, March 20, 2011

Reference 1: Wii Balance Board as the Input Device

In the project "Traveling in 3D Virtual Environments with Foot Gestures" by VALKOV, Dimitar & al, they used Wii Balance Board as the input device for user to navigate and interact with virtual reality environment.


The Balance Board introduced by Nintendo in the second half of 2007 contains multiple pressure sensors
that are used to measure the user’s center of balance and weight. Nintendo introduced several metaphors like a surfboard, magic carpet, or 2D transporter to use this board for traveling in games. Since the Nintendo Balance Board has been introduced, it has already been applied in some research projects. For instance, De Haan et al. have applied the board to define an input device with 3 degrees of freedom (DOF), which they used to implement 3D rotations or a basic navigation technique. Schöning et al. have examined simultaneous usage of hands and feet to manipulate two-dimensional GIS data sets.

The balance board features a bluetooth connection and contains multiple pressure sensors that are used to measure the user's center of balance as well as the weight. The center of balance is determined by the intersection between an imaginary line drawn vertically through the user's center of mass and the surface of the balance board.

The steering and speed control are inspired by the Human Transporter vehicle. Leaning forward and backward leads to forward and backward motion of the vehicle, while leaning left or right turns it in this direction. In order to implement such a control a 2D projection of the user's center of gravity, i.e, user center of balance c is to move a uniform mass across this board. This way, it minimize the impact of different user weights.


 



 


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