Sunday, May 24, 2020

Wii Remote Lightgun

The Wii Remote sort of works like a lightgun, but not quite. It has a camera that can track four infrared LEDs, but the LEDs it uses are normally arranged in a straight line in the Wii sensor bar, which is mathematically insufficient for figuring out where exactly the Wii Remote is pointed. If, however, we put two infrared LEDs on top of a TV and two on the bottom, then one could use homography calculations to figure out where the Wii Remote is pointing, and use it as a lightgun. I wrote some code for my Raspberry PI that does this, and together with a 3D printable handle and sights the Wii Remote becomes a nice lightgun for retro games. Instructions are here.


2 comments:

lukebarnes said...

That is fantastic. I have a wii and a NES with the original lightgun, but it doesn't work on newer TV's. Well done!

Alexander R Pruss said...

Thanks, Luke, and it's nice to hear from you!