Although you can’t play with Wiimote controlled 15 ton grapples in the living room. This hack isn’t anything like the Lego Mindstorms NXT Robot controlled with a Wiimote or the Wiimote operated Lawnmower. This one has gone king-size. This thing is a beast of a robotic monster and rigging it with a Wiimote making this one of the heavy duty Wiimote hacks we’ve seen.

The Wiimote + the Python programmed control is even more awe inspiring because each grapple arm can spin at a top speed of 72kms/hour or 12 revolutions per minute. Each arm needs to avoid collision with the other. And with each having a reach of 16 meters it’s recommended to stay as far back as possible.

For more achievable DIY Wiimote hacks check out the Top 30 Wiimote Hacks of the Web.

Instead of storing your games on their usual CDs, store them on an external hard drive and then load them at your convenience without having to even get off the couch.  Plus you could even grab some “backup copies” from online and store them on your drive too.  The setup process is really quite simple and easy for anyone to follow.  Also, if you don’t have a Wii, you could always just use an emulator to play them on your PC.

• For more outstanding Wii projects, including infrared head tracking, see all of our wii hacks.

This tutorial will walk you through how you how to connect your wiimote to your PC to play games like Counter Strike, Call of Duty, and more.  We’ve covered a brief tutorial in the past about how to connect a wiimote to your PC which you can also reference during the setup process.

What You will Need:

• Wiimote (way cheaper on eBay)
• Sensor bar (optional)
• Wireless Bluetooth Adapter (We sell quality adapters at low prices in our store)
• BlueSoleil and Glovepie (free)

How to Connect your Wiimote to your PC:

1. Plug in your bluetooth adapter.  (Buy one in our store)
2. Download BlueSoleil, install and run it.
3. Hold 1 and 2 buttons on wiimote
4. Click the center button on BlueSoleil to search for devices.
5. Once the wiimote is found it will show up as “Nintendo” followed by multiple letters…
6. Click “Search Services”
7. Click “connect bluetooth human interface device

Make sure when you do this you try to keep the lights on the wiimote flashing once it is successfully connected (the lights will eventually turn off by themselves).  Your wiimote is now connected to your computer! BlueSoleil should now look like this:

If you don’t have a Wii console, you can buy a few infrared LED’s and tape them on your desk facing the area where you will be using the wiimote. Bascially,  you have to try your best to simulate a wii sensor bar or else the wiimote might not pick up the infrared LEDs.

For those with a Wii console, simply plug in your wii into any outlet and set the sensor bar anywhere infront of your monitor. Â  (We only need the wii to power the sensor bar).  The sensor bar just uses 2 infrared LEDs which the wiimote detects.  Don’t turn your wii console on until you need the infrared lights. Then the next step is to download and install GlovePie.  Here is a Wiimote script for Counter Strike and you can find many other scripts as well.

Next steps:

1. Open the Script on GlovePie
2. Run the Script from the download above
3. Make sure that the X and Y axis are working when you tilt the wiimote.
4. Turn on your wii console
5. Start  Counter Strike
6. Go to console and Type in “Sensitivity 0.1″
7. You can change the sensitivity to whatever you feel is comfortable for yourself but make sure it is close to 0.1 or else it will be hard to control.

Counter Strike Controls:

• B =  shoot
• A =  Secondary “silencer, etc.”
• Home = Buy Menu
• Flick Up = Jump
• Minus = Reload
• 1 = Weapon Switch
• C = Crouch
• Z = Uncrouch

Tip: Make sure you are a good distance from the sensor bar or else you’ll have little room to aim the wiimote.

Check out some similar wii hacks:

• See our vast collection of Wii and Wiimote hacks
• How to: Cheap Accelerometer with the Wii Nunchuck
• Airsoft Gun Controlled via WiiMote

• Another iPhone controlled RC car
• All of our Wii and Wiimote projects
• Internet controlled RC car

Using the infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (containing two infrared LEDs), you can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen.

This effectively transforms your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of depth and space. Someone get this kid a job.  Update – he’s been hired by Microsoft.