Scientists from the Idaho National Laboratory are working with engineers from the U.S. Army, Foster-Miller, and iRobot, and have come up with a way to control military robots with Nintendo's Wiimote.

"If a soldier wants to find a bomb [with a robot], 95 percent of their attention has to be focused on the screen," said Doug Few, an engineer at the Idaho National Laboratory working on the project. "Using the Wii remote reduces the work load on the operator and also extends the numbers of domains that the robot can be used in."

The operation is basic -- point to a place with the controller and using its sensors, the robot goes there. Along the way it 'creates maps', so if a button is pushed the machine will find its way back to the user, even if the user has moved. The technology will evolve as time goes on, of course, with the various other functions of the device issuing different commands (i.e. locating bombs or chemical agents, sweeping for land mines, etc). Various other functions will have to be improved, before its really ready, too (accuracy, resistance to hacking BioShock-style, etc).

"I think you'll be seeing a lot more new and unique ways to control things like military robot, especially as sensors and other technologies are miniaturized," said said Jason Slater of robot manufacturer Foster Miller. "But we are still a long way from the popular image of fully autonomous robots walking around."

Few says he "has not heard from Nintendo" on the matter.