Rice University is utilizing the Wii Remote in a new research project that aims to find new ways to program robot teachers.

The "robot teachers" that Rice is researching aren't of the pulp magazine variety. The school explained, "Think of hitting a tennis ball. Learning by trial-and-error is fine, but it would be much easier if a robotic sleeve could tell you exactly where that hitch in your swing is and gently prod you to hit the ball correctly."

Researchers will analyze motion using the controller, and compare that to a high-end motion capture device from Vicon.

Rice professors Marcia O'Malley and Michael Byrne are leading the project. O'Malley previously researched ways robots can be used to treat stroke victims, and this study is an extension of that research into "cognitive modeling of human motor skill acquisition."

Using motion tracking devices like the remote can expand the available information on peoples' abilities to learn physical tasks.

O'Malley said, “We’re already grabbing motion data from the Wiimote, so soon we’ll be able to measure a range of motion and then turn it into a mathematical model.”

Byrne added, "We find that some Wii games have really good learning properties we can measure, and there are also some that people don’t seem to get a lot better at."