Because of the cost, finding equipment to use for their studies, daily tests and everything else can be quite the hassle. But fortunately for science, its seems that consumer electronics functionality has caught up with the needs of scientists. The only real difference from consumer devices and those that scientists use is the drastically cheaper cost of the consumer electronics. This is one of the main reasons behind scientist beginning to use Nintendo’s Wiimote to measure water evaporation.

In the process outlined by the Water Resource Research, the Wiimote obtains the same result but at a cheaper cost. In the past the cost of pressure transducers forced scientists to spend hundreds of research dollars just buying the equipment. In the paper it outlines how the Wiimote is able to track the 4 brightest points in a near infrared image, which allows it to track 4 IR reflectors that rest in a water pan. Using a generator scientists create waves and change water levels using a pump. As a result, they are able to track water level changes with the accuracy all the way down to the millimeter, even with substantial waves occurring. The Wiimote can also be used as an accelerometer to capture the overall motion of the water pan, which would bring more accuracy to the experiment. These test results can help forecast weather conditions as well as floods. What other fields of study do you think that the Wiimote could be used successfully in?

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[Source: Wired]

Authors: V_Geek

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