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Updated: May 14, 2026
08:18
WheelCon: A Wheel Control-Based Gaming Platform for Studying Human Sensorimotor Control
Published on: August 15, 2020
On the correlation between motion data captured from low-cost gaming controllers and high precision encoders
Sagar N Purkayastha1, Michael D Byrne, Marcia K O'Malley
1Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA. fsnp5@rice.edu
Summary
This study quantifies the suitability of gaming controllers for motion capture and rehabilitation. The Nintendo Wiimote demonstrates higher consistency and is better suited for these applications compared to the Sony Playstation 3 Sixaxis controller.
Area of Science:
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Robotics
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Gaming controllers offer low-cost sensing solutions for research.
- Previous research has not quantitatively assessed their suitability for motion capture, rehabilitation, teleoperation, and gesture recognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively analyze the suitability of the Nintendo Wiimote and Sony Playstation 3 Sixaxis controllers for motion capture and rehabilitation applications.
- To compare the sensor accuracy of these gaming controllers against a high-resolution encoder.
Main Methods:
- Collected acceleration and angular velocity data from the Wiimote and Sixaxis controllers.
- Computed reference acceleration and angular velocity data using a high-resolution encoder.
- Correlated sensor data from controllers with encoder-derived data.
Main Results:
- High correlation was observed between controller sensor data and encoder-derived data.
- The Nintendo Wiimote exhibited greater consistency than the Sony Playstation 3 Sixaxis.
- The Wiimote is inferred to be more suitable for motion capture and as an input device.
Conclusions:
- Gaming controllers, particularly the Wiimote, show significant potential for use in motion capture and rehabilitation research.
- The findings support the use of low-cost gaming controllers as viable alternatives to specialized motion capture systems.
- Further research can explore applications in teleoperation and gesture recognition.
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