TEK » wiimote

Wiimotes and Plasma Screens

Richard van Dijk — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:48:24 +0000

It may not be pretty but this is the modified TEK irpen that we have used for making a plasma screen interactive. The reasoning behind this came from having to put a wiimote in a year one classroom and the projector giving an image that kids would be too short for. So with a slight modification of the pen (we found that the glass on the plasma screen was too reflective in this case for an accurate reading) we were away. As you can see from the photo below the boys found it easy to use and were happily using the big computer monitor to write on ( they are playing echalk).

I guess I will have to add an update to this after a few field trials but we like the idea and with the price of Plasma screen so low at the moment it is a real option for class and hey there are no shadows. Just the thing to complement those Dell Latitude 2100 netbooks $1,046 NZD for a touch screen. Or $1500 for a Samsung 42 inch plus $400 for a wiimote kit hmmm I guess it’s lucky I already have a laptop.

Making the TEK irpen for wiiboard

Richard van Dijk — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:45:11 +0000

Here is a quick 3x speed video of Mark making an irpen. Feel free to comment and ask questions if you need any further help making your own. Or you can buy one by clicking on the link on this blog. If you need to see it in higher quality follow the link to you tube where there is the option of HQ.

YouTube – Making the TEK irpen for wiiboard.

Wiimote whiteboard roundup

Richard van Dijk — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:13:47 +0000

So we have had our first week of having the wiimote in a class at Katikati College. Next week we deploy to another eight classrooms across the cluster as well as three at Omokoroa No 1 School. So far we have built some of our own pens and brought some from penteractive.us who were very happy to send them out to us. I still prefer our own pens largely due to the button and slightly larger size of the pen. There are several other vendors for the pens out there and they can be found on the wiimote whiteboard page.

Also for schools interested in this the wiimote for schools how to is a good place to start. For the software to run the boards I have been using Uwe Schmidt‘s on the mac and Boonjin’s Smoothboard on PC. The smoothboard software is great for the extra functions as it makes the area outside the board useful for backspace return etc as well as a host of functions for google earth and sketchup. The next step for us will be an instructional video on how to make the pens. If you would like a demo and live close enough let us know and if you really don’t want to get you hands dirty we can organise a ready to install kit for you where the wiimote is mains powered and the button for syncing with bluetooth is extended to the front of the classroom.

wiimote, so easy

Richard van Dijk — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:51:46 +0000

To further advertise the simplicity of using the wiimote pens this video shows my Two year old daugther using the wiimote irpens on the projector in the lounge. She now loves standing on the toy box and drwing on the wall. good one dad

YouTube – wiimote, so easy.

Wii Mote Pictures

Richard van Dijk — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:33:09 +0000

Here are some shots of the mounts and the pens manufactured by Te Puke High School.

YouTube – Wiimote Whiteboard vs. Commercial Electronic Boards

Richard van Dijk — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:11:55 +0000

YouTube – Wiimote Whiteboard vs. Commercial Electronic Boards.

I visited Tepuke High School today and was really impressed by the setup for their wiimote iwb’s I look forward to building my own this week. Will post some photos of the setup later, If only my n73 bluetooth would work with osx.