Optical mouse as direction center

djindepth

I'm interested in hacking an optical mouse so that I can track the direction and speed of a wheelchair tire. I'm not looking for very high resolution. I would like to interface with an Arduino Uno. Any advice would be appreciated.

LoopyByteloose

Well, this can definitely be done.

Consider using mice that take a serial interface other than USB. That will allow you to easily use a Propeller or synchronous serial on whatever.

You will need a disk for the mouse to work with. A blank CD or DVD 'may be a good starting point. .. easy to acquire.

Parallax has provided a mouse object that works with the Propeller. Whatever you desire to do with an Uno is going to require looking elsewhere for examples.

GordonMcComb

Sparkfun used to sell an evaluation board based on a popular sensor used in many optical mice. It was similar to the one Parallax sold. Both products have been discontinued, but for Arduinoland, SparkFun still provides the Arduino library files and examples, which were developed with their board in mind.

Do a search for sparkfun mouse sensor and you'll find the "retired" page for it, along with the legacy files.

Your next step would be to find a cheap optical mouse to hack that has this, or similar, sensor. The one you find may not be exactly the same model, but if it's from the same manufacturer, could share similar specifications. You need to find a mouse that doesn't have the USB stuff as part of the sensor. This is true for many of the older, cheaper ones. You will interface to the sensor through a simpler serial protocol.

Having tried some of these mouse sensors, a cheap little quadrature encoder (see current threads elsewhere on this topic) and a small rubber wheel would be much easier, and likely more accurate.