Analysis and comparison of low cost gaming controllers for motion analysis

Gaming controllers are attractive devices for research due to their onboard sensing capabilities and low cost. However, a proper quantitative analysis regarding their suitability for motion capture has yet to be conducted. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the sensors of two of these controllers, the Nintendo Wiimote and the Sony Playstation 3 Sixaxis is presented. The acceleration data from the sensors were plotted and compared with computed acceleration data derived from a high resolution encoder, then correlated to determine the performance of the gaming controllers. The results show high correlation between the acceleration data of the sensors and the computed acceleration, and more consistency in the sensors of the Sixaxis. The applications of the findings are discussed with respect to potential research ventures.