Inspiration
As a team, we found that there was no portable mouse on the market that could fit us all comfortably. So we figured, why not make a portable mouse that perfectly conforms to our hand? This was the inspiration for the glove mouse; a mouse that seamlessly integrates into our daily life while also providing functionality and comfort.
What it does
Our project integrates a mouse into a glove, using planar movement of the hand to control the position of the cursor. The project features two push buttons on the fingertips which can control left and right click.
How we built it
At the core of our project, we utilized an Arduino Uno to transmit data from our push buttons and 6-axis accelerometer module to the computer. Each module sends analog signals to the Arduino, which we then collect with a C program running on the computer. This raw acceleration data is then processed in Python using integration to get the velocity of the cursor, which is then used to output a corresponding cursor movement on the host computer.
Challenges we ran into
One major challenge the team faced was that our board, the Arduino Uno, didn’t have native support with Arduino’s mouse libraries; meaning we needed to find a different way to interface our sensors with a computer input. Our solution was, based on forums and recommendations online, to output our data to Python using C, where we could then manipulate the data and control the mouse using a Python script. However, since Python is higher level than C, we found that the collection of data in the C program occurred faster than the code in Python could receive. To solve this, we implemented a software enable from Python to C to synchronize the collection of the data.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Despite using a board that was incompatible with Arudino's built-in mouse library, we were able to figure out a workaround to implement mouse capabilities on our Arudino board.
What we learned
Through this project, the team learned a lot about interfacing between different programming languages with Arduinos. Additionally, the team gained experience with scripts for data collection and controlling timings so programs can interact at normal intervals.
What's next for Glove Mouse
In the future, we want to make our cursor movement smoother on the host PC by spending more time to calibrate the polling rate, response time, and sensitivity. Additionally, we would look to reduce the size of the device by creating an IC to replace our Arduino, add a Bluetooth transceiver, and add a small battery.
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