The military application of videogame controllers is already something the tech world has become familiar with through the likes of the U.S. Army’s “Crusher,” an automated hulking seven-tonne battlefield vehicle developed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which can be controlled remotely by the Xbox 360 gamepad.
Nintendo Wii controls incorporated into robotic military bomb disposal units. Credit: Nintendo.
Now however, the innovative and more humanistic attributes of the Nintendo Wii’s motion-based controller (the Wii Remote or Wiimote) have led the U.S. military to incorporate Wii control technology into a variant of its Packbot bomb disposal robots, which are machinegun-equipped units deployed to clear mines and explosives.
While there are estimated to be around 500 Packbots in service across Iraq and Afghanistan, this latest model comes complete with a Wii user control system that U.S. Department of Energy scientists claim is much more instinctive for handlers and will enable them to apply a clearer focus to processing the Packbot’s gathered data.
According to an article printed by the New Scientist, the innovative Wii modification applied to the Packbot line, which is created by Massachusetts-based iRobot, was engineered by David Bruemmer and Douglas Few working out of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Lab in Idaho Falls.
iRobot has also achieve more conventional consumer electronic notoriety for its automated Roomba vacuum cleaner, which was unveiled by the company back in 2002.
“The ‘Wiimote’ control system allows game players to direct on-screen action using a wireless wand that detects acceleration in three dimensions,” outlines the New Scientist regarding the advantages of the Wii’s control mechanics. “It has already found some unexpected uses, such as manipulating ultrasound images and monitoring movement deficiencies in people with Parkinson’s disease.”
In related news, scientists are also planning to introduce Apple’s popular iPhone smartphone into the field of military robotics on the grounds that the diminutive feature-rich device could potentially replace laptops currently used to process data retrieved by the robot units.
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