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There are two methods of using the Wii’s Image sensor. Connecting the complete remote to the controller using Bluetooth, or disassembling the remote and stripping out the image sensor chip.
Using Complete Remote
The handset uses a Bluetooth HID driver to communicate with the Wii console. Therefore we can replace the Wii with a PC. Most of the hardware on the Wii control can be accessed using software called “WiinRemote” including the IR sensor, accelerometer and all buttons. The software & source code is on the project CD in the Wii Remote Folder. There has also been a C# library developed for implementing in custom programs.
Unfortunately only certain Bluetooth drivers will communicate with the Wii, the BlueSoleil drivers generally work. The Microsoft drivers don’t at the time of writing.
It is necessary to connect to the Bluetooth HID service using your Bluetooth drivers first before starting any program.
More Information available from http://www.circuitdb.com/articles/7
Stripping out chip
The IR sensor chip incorporates a I2C bus and the pin out is shown below. By disassembling and de-soldering the chip it is possible to remove. The remote uses a tamper proof screw therefore special screwdrivers are needed to disassemble.
There are several sites listing details on how to interface with the chip. The register locations where the co-ordinate positions are stored are listed at the first link below. The second link kako.com is in Japanese however a translator such as Google can be used to read. See Wii Remote folder on the project CD for a PDF version. The site has a sample program developed for an Atmel microcontroller which reads the values from the chip. It was intended to implement the IR sensor in this project however the time did not allow for this.
http://wiki.wiimoteproject.com/IR_Sensor
http://www.kako.com/neta/2007-001/2007-001.html
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