I really enjoyed this week. We modded a mouse click with an Arduino.
Equipment: soldering kit, amazon basics mouse, arduino kit.
The goal: connect the mouse to the Arduino so we can click the mouse through software.
To start off, I disassembled the mouse. This is what the mouse looks like with the plastic shell taken off:
Next, I had to take off the old clicker connected to the mouse board. This was done by heading up the solder on the mouse, then sucking it off the board. After all the solder was gone, I could remove the clicker. (picture shows clicker removed):
Now that the clicker was removed, I could connect it to the Arduino. To do this, I used a bread board, and connected the pins that used to go to the clicker to the Arduino. Now I could control when clicks happen with the Arduino!
This project inspired me to use the Arduino for an idea I had for the final project in which the player is only partially in control of the movement in the game. The Arduino (in conjunction with an IPAC) will control the player on the screen.