Wii/PS3 controllers for UAV stabilization

[simonHBX]

Hello there

First of all I'd like to say that I have never build/operated a UAV but have had a long running interest in the hobby.

I have been reading through this section of the forum for a little while and the work I've seen is VERY impressive, but from what I have read there hasn't been anyone fiddle with Wiimotes or PS3 Sixaxis controllers much :eek:
So what I'd like to know if it is possible to use these controllers for stabilization and autonomous flight of a RC helicopter with a small single board computer?

I have seen tinny little industrial motherboards (or single board computers) that may be suitable for the application, some of them measuring under 12x12mm.

So ultimately I would like to know if it is at all possible to build a Helicopter UAV with simple off-the-shelf parts that everyone can get? Say for instance

1 or 2 WiiMotes/Sixaxis controllers
1 GPS mouse unit
1 miniature single board computer (need SD card HDD, ram and PSU like a PicoPSU running off a 11.1v lipo?)
and some sort of comms, WiFi, BlueTooth (for upload of mission stuff)

As for the servo controller, Something like this?
http://www.oceancontrols.com.au/motor_controller/robotics/micro_serial_servo_0207.htm
(I cant believe how small and cheap that is :eek: )

the only hard bit is software, I have no knowledge of software programing :(, so maybe someone would be willing to help in that department?

There are probably parts I have missed because I am posting this at 12:30 in the morning so. . Yeah :rolleyes:

Thanks for your time, Looking forward to your replys! (please don't flame me!, you have to start somewhere! :) )

[adamchapman]

Im also interested in this. I know that next year at the university of manchester someone who shares a lab with me will be working on outputs from wii remotes for something.

It really depends what you want to do with the wii remote acceleraometers, if you are using x,y,z axes then that could work, but wyou will have no information about rotational acceleration as the wii remote only has linear accelerometers.

A similar problem exists with some models of the commercial 'micropilot', which only have rotational accelerometers, which dont allow you to measure distance using acceleration data!

Im sure someone out there has hacked a wii remote, ive seen some other really wierd things done with their infra-red links so people can use fingers with reflective tape instead of the actual remote.

Adam

[zlite]

See the ArduCopter (Wiimote controlled): http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1194413232

(BTW, that has never flown)

The hardware is easy. The software is a PhD's worth of work. Hope you're an ace programmer and have a year to spare!

[simonHBX]

Thanks for the comments guys

I knew the software would be the hard part, it usually is! :( , still It would be an interesting project

[hg1]

You might consider using a Wiimote as the operator control stick in place of a joystick or mouse. We're working on something along these lines using an iPhone. However, there's no practical reason to attach a Wiimote to a UAV because of weight and cost - the accelerometers themselves weigh less than a gram and cost a lot less than a Wiimote.