Two key technologies work together to make the Wiimote such as useful device. The first is the Infrared camera located on the front of the remote. It works by taking pictures in the IR light spectrum of a known configuration of IR LED's. The Nintendo Sensor Bar contains these LED's. Since the LED's are set in a known configuration the Wiimote can use the IR image it acquires to calculate it's distance from the sensor bar or place a cursor on a display. The other important hardware found in the Wiimote is the motion sensors. Inside the Wiimote there are three accelerometers oriented for the x, y, and z axes of the Wiimote. Each accelerometer is constantly polled by the Wiimote and reports back how many Netwons of force are being applied to it. Using this information a software application can determine the type of movement a user is performing.

As mentioned earlier, the Wiimote can be used for two specific categories of applications; applications that benefit from a wireless interface and applications that lend themselves to motion sensing. Using the Wiimote as a mouse (avi 29.7M) is one of the most intuitive and straightforward ways of using the Wiimote for data manipulation and display. Simply set the sensor bar below your display and point the Wiimote towards it. The Wiimote could be used in a medical setting to wirelessly view 3D medical data. It could be used by teachers in interactive software. Teachers would no longer have to sit behind a computer as they show slides or run other computer programs but can move freely about the classroom and interact with their students. The Wiimote could allow teachers to remain an active presence in their classrooms which is something PowerPoint presentations and the like often prevent teachers from doing.

Motion sensing (avi 16.6M) capabilities could also revolutionize teacher student interaction. Imagine a physics class where learning about acceleration, motion, and trajectory wasn’t just represented in the form of pictures and diagrams, instead image students using the Wiimote to simulate those phenomena. Image a music class where students didn’t just learn about tempo and time signatures, rather, with the Wiimote they could actually physically get a feel for those notions and experience them themselves. This level of physical interaction between students and subject material is paramount in peaking their attention and interest, two key components in effective teaching.