While the Nintendo Wii is old news at this point, the hardware that goes into their controllers is still awesome. Wii Nunchucks and their clones are inexpensive and readily available, making an ideal control method for all kinds of robotics projects. The devices feature a small joytick on the top, a pair of buttons on the front, and an accelerometer inside, allowing for a variety of interesting control schemes.
While using one of these with your electronics project normally requires interfacing with it’s I2C (or technically the TWI) interface, what if you wanted to simply use it as computer mouse or game controller? This is indeed possible, and with the iTapStick Nunchuck-toMouse adapter you simply plug it (or even more than one) in an a USB HID device. As shown below, playing the One Finger Death Punch PC video game with two controllers looks like a lot of fun.
The adapter is made from a USB Pro Trinket with a Nunchucky interface, allowing you to plug in a wireless or wired Nunchuck controller without any soldering. It can also be programmed for custom HID interactions, opening up all kinds of gaming or productivity possibilities. Additionally, since this setup is simply an HID device, it could also be used with Raspbery Pi board for retro gaming, or as a controller for your Pi-based robot.
