Wii Balance Board Beats $18,000 Medical Equipment

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Wii Balance Board Beats $18,000 Medical Equipment



The Wii Balance Board could end up saving lives someday, or at least helping out a bit.

Nintendo Wii controllers are finding many a use other than wild arm-flailing fun and embarrassing television destruction. Wii Remotes have already been hacked for science [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96946-Wii-Remotes-Hacked-for-Science], and now the Wii Balance Board has been tested to be as "clinically capable" as an $18,000 piece of medical equipment.

University of Melbourne researcher Dr. Ross Clark heard about Wii Remotes being used in the scientific field and got to wondering if the Wii Balance Board could have a similar use. "I wanted to know if it would be any good for assessing the standing balance of patients," he told New Scientist [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527435.300-wii-board-helps-physios-strike-a-balance-after-strokes.html]. Up until now, $18,000 "force platforms" have been used to help patients relearn how to balance themselves after traumatic injuries or illnesses such as strokes. This cost puts them out of reach for many clinics.

Enter, the Wii Balance Board. Clark and fellow researchers were able to get their hands on one and hacked it apart for science. He relates: "We found the data to be excellent. I was shocked given the price: it was an extremely impressive strain gauge set-up." Clark eventually published a paper [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2009.11.012] where he and his colleagues determined that the Wii Balance Board sometimes exceeded the performance of a force platform, at roughly 1/200 of the cost. This means it "could provide the average clinician with a standing balance assessment tool suitable for the clinical setting."

Clark continues: "The low price of the Wii kit is now seeing it used to assess rehabilitation after stroke, traumatic brain injuries and to examine standing balance in children who were born pre-term." Amazingly, Nintendo accessories are helping scientific and medical communities all over. The next thing we know, we'll see the Wii Vitality Sensor [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93093-Nintendo-President-Defends-Wii-Vitality-Sensor] used to measure people's vital signs. Wouldn't that be a sight.

Source: Gizmodo [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527435.300-wii-board-helps-physios-strike-a-balance-after-strokes.html]

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slowpoke999

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Sep 17, 2009
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Finally more good news for the sake of both Science and gaming.

Edit:Oh and for people with medical problems I guess.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Thats awsome!

I'm curious to see what else they can pull off with other Wii Accesories.

The next thing we know, we'll see the Wii Vitality Sensor used to measure people's vital signs. Wouldn't that be a sight.
pfft, yeah, like that could ever happen...

Perhaps it could be used to bake cookies.

Now that would be awsome.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Furburt said:
And the zapper can actually be used to shoot zombies!

What, none of you have shot a zombie? Pfff...losers.
I did. My mom's meatloaf is made with Las Plagas.
 

smudgey

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May 8, 2008
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Hmmm.... this, the vitality sensor, Trauma centre.... what next, Nintendo Healthcare?
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Thats awesome. Putting games into good use inside the medical profession! Take that anti-gaming advocates!
 

Flying Dagger

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Apr 14, 2009
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you give the medical equipment commercial appeal and you'll get costs cut considerably. it's a wonder no-one in the industry thought of it first.
 

TheNumber1Zero

Forgot to Remember
Jul 23, 2009
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Well, funny how you can hear the evils of gaming explained by the same list over and over again, then read a story about how a gaming peripheral can outdo an $18,000 piece of equipment.

I love being a Gamer.
 

More Fun To Compute

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Nov 18, 2008
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That $18,000 piece of hardware was a AAA hardcore balance test experience and Nintendo have ruined everything for people who appreciate a real hardcore force platform for serious patients.
 

thiosk

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Sep 18, 2008
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As a scientist:

Do not be surprised at the high cost of such equipment! Before the Nintendo Wii, name one mass market use for such a product. Medical and scientific equipment is expensive because the items are not produced by the millions, the $18,000 force board likely is produced by hand in a small biomedical company, which assembles components whose manufacture has been outsourced to third parties.

Example:

I can build a device we use in our laboratory, a "scanning-probe head," for a couple thousand in parts, and a few days of labor, using things like solder and superglue.

Veeco, a company that specializes in such systems, will give me a system that performs identically but in a different configuration (and not user-servicable) for 20k.

And every time i break it, they charge about 4 k to fix it.

In short, companies that make such items have to charge a lot to cover the overhead associated with it. If it turned out that everyone in the world was going to buy their very own MRI system, you can bet they would drop in price once mass-market manufacturing caught up.

The Nintendo wii prototype cost much more than 18,000, i'll guarantee, but it was designed for mass production and distribution.
 

Ghonzor

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Jul 29, 2009
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It's only a matter of time before Nintendo becomes the ruler of the universe.
You heard it here first.
 

SageRuffin

M-f-ing Jedi Master
Dec 19, 2009
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Ghonzor said:
It's only a matter of time before Nintendo becomes the ruler of the universe.
You heard it here first.
What are you tripping about? They already have!

That's the true purpose of Nintendo: JUST TO RULE US ALL!! JUST TO RULE US ALL!! JUST RULE US ALL!! JUST TO RULE- HRRKK! [gets smacked with a brick]