Special thanks to Fred Higton for all his help and partaking in the projects development.

Video courtesy of BBC East Midlands Today, 08/07/2011

However whilst functional the solution is not very aesthetically appealing. This could be addressed via two potential solutions:

• Removal of the plane from collision completely
• Refactor of the plane to facilitate multiple collision events

I will investigate the performance considerations of both of these solutions and depending on the outcome apply for the next release.

As you can see in the screenshot above I have put in place holders for the new Speed Race game. Other improvements include multi-player selection for up-to four players.

Key features include:

• Password Screen
• Player Select
• Game four template
• Data capture G1-G3

SJB

A simple racing game in which the user competes against their previous performances. The user primarily controls the speed of the car in order to successfully navigate around a predetermined racetrack. Going too fast at a corner results in the car spinning off the track and time penalty.

If multiple users use the game then the best performance is used to provide the ghost performance. The ghost performance acts as a npc (none player character) for the user to race against.

Description of User Movement

User raises/rotates and lowers hand from the wrist changing the pitch of the hand. This motion controls the speed of a car on a track. Raising the hand increases the speed, lowering decreases. For more able bodied users the arm can be raised or lowered to produce the same effect. The same method of hand movement/rotation can also be used in the Y axis to produce yaw motion that could control direction of the vehicle. A user is forced to vary speed at corners or they will leave the track resulting in a time penalty.

Levels

There is a singular level consisting of a race track environment in which the user competes against a ghosting of their previous performance. Differentiations of level are primarily defined via skill variance and of number of circuits of the track needed for race completion.

Score

Performance is primarily logged as the time taken for the user to complete the race. In game feedback is provided to the user in the form of a ghosting of their previous performance.

Data

The concept provides large volumes of available data, some of them are:

• Distance moved in the XY planes.
• Number of accelerations of the car.
• Number of times car leaves track.

Feedback

The User has access to their score for each level and an overall score which can be used to derive an overall grade (Gold, Silver, Bronze).

Skill

Skill can be broken down into 3 categories of control method and obstacle provision:

1. Fixed course speed controlled via user movement (Pitch).
2. User controlled course (Yaw) and speed (Pitch).
3. User controlled course (Yaw) and speed (Pitch) and obstacle avoidance.

Expansion

The concept can be expanded to include additional tracks and npc opponents dependent upon implementation resource.

This description is avaliable in .pdf format here.

The following details some of the primary features that make the IRO-USB-R4 aka The Scorpion stand out for Wiimote IR Tracking development.

Customizable setups facilitating up to 4 IR sources. The limitation of 4 points reflects only the standard visible points detectable via a standard Wiimote.

1. IR sources/pendants are interchangeable allowing for numerous variants to be attached to the power source: This is great for PDS development and facilitating a users individual anthropometric requirements. This is also great if for some reason an LED fails.
2. Super fast 100mah/280mah USB Rechargeable power source.
3. Recharge indicator LED.
4. Ambidextrous pendant design. Can be used equally by left or right handed individuals.
5. Compact lightweight fingertip mountings, especially designed to  facilitate a users individual anthropometric requirements.
6. Compact lightweight body mounting, especialy designed to  facilitate a users individual anthropometric requirements.
7. Pendant IR Source operational control (on/off switch).
8. Its Lightweight and compact: Just as it says on the tin.
9. Solid and robust performance for up to 1hour 40min of constant usage. It will last longer but this is the optimal usage period.

With the completion of this final iteration, the Wii Glove system has now been submitted for clinical trialing.

More information will be made available shortly.

The clahrc project was featured in nottingham post the other day, under the banner of: Experts create Nintendo Wii glove to help stroke patients.

A direct link to the article can be found here.

The article details a nice photo of Andy demonstrating one of the rechargeable glove prototypes with the CLAHRC project space race game.

The article also provides a little information about the Interactive Technologies and Games: Education, Health and Disability conferance at which the system was featured.

New features include:

1) LED diffusers to improve detectable orientations of the diodes

2) Rechargeable 3.6V (NiMH) battery. Charge time from empty is 14 hours using the built in mini-USB port.

3) Forward facing individual wire outputs. Should make fitting the glove simpler by making it more obvious which wire goes on which finger.

4) Easy to operate long toggle switch.

Andy (15 Oct 2010)