Swiitboard - homebrew Wiimote jogging game

swiftboard_20081211.jpg

What do you do if the Wii Fit games aren't intense enough for you? You build your own exercise gaming system, of course:

wondered about a way to get fitter, work out without having to go running outside (although that is very healthy). I didn't think the Wii balance board would do the trick, as the Wii games where reported not to be very intense, and the board itself is to hard for running on it. So what is different about the Swiiboard is that can absorb running effort, measure the effort and perhaps that it can use those measurements to control a virtual environment. It turned out this can be achieved using a Wiimote controller.

The controller is a simple setup: a wooden plank spans two chunks of mattress foam, and a Wiimote is zip-tied to the center. The accelerometer in the Wiimote can be used to measure your jogging pace, as well as the left to right tilt on the board, giving you all the control you need to move an avatar around a 3D world.

The Swiitboard (Footwii/Pedal navigation device)


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Posted by: SelfSilent on December 12, 2008 at 4:13 AM

Eh!

"ii games where reported not to be very intense, and the board itself is to hard for running on it."

The games (especially jogging) are as intense as you want them to be.
Plus you aren't supposed to use the Wii fit board when doing the jogging, you put the controller in your pocket and it uses the accelerometer to detect the up and down movement of jogging.

I don't know about around your area but near me, the ground is hard, not spongy so this is going to give you less of a work out than the Wii fit would. The foam is dampening the movement and providing recoil which lessens the amount that your muscles have to work.

Not to mention the fact that I have never fallen off the flat ground where as that thing looks a bit precarious.

How can you prepose to better something if you have never tried the original.

I can imagine your neighbors being well pleased with that stamping noise.

Put the foam back in the sofa, turn the bit of wood into a shelf and go and get Wii fit, it offers a lot more potential than this thing.


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