DCS’ undergraduate CSC490: Capstone Design course was created to give students the experience of solving a substantial problem that may span several areas of computer science in a small and highly interactive environment. This year’s theme was “user interfaces for video games.”
Student Ian Chan’s CSC490 project explored Mapping the Orientation of a Physical Object in the Real World to Control an Object in a Virtual 3D Environment. He was inspired by the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote, and attempted to create a similar piece of technology from scratch. Chan’s controller was able to fly a virtual plane in a video game environment. Where one might typically use a keyboard, the player was instead able to control the movements of the plane by holding the small controller freely in the air. On his project website, Chan notes, “I created a fully functional ‘Wii-mote’ which fully interacted and interfaced with my game. I was very surprised that I could fly so well using the controller, and it did feel more natural than a keyboard.”
Watch Chan’s video presentation on his project: