Arduino Head Mouse With Click Controlled by Sound
by vitorccsiqueira in Circuits > Arduino
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Arduino Head Mouse With Click Controlled by Sound
Description
That's a USB mouse with cursor controlled by head movement and click made by sound/noise in a microphone - a project intended for disability-aid or fun purposes.
The inspiration
I have been researching for some time for an assistive technology which allows a friend of mine with special needs to use a computer, so she could have her independence and communicate more efficiently.
She has limited control over her head movement and at first I considered a great Brazilian project called Colibri. However, the left click in Colibri is performed by a blink gesture and she is not able to do so. So I changed the click to be performed by any sound/noise made in the microphone.
I was also greatly inspired by @Gabry925 project and @millmore, so many thanks for them as well.
Possible Use
- Alternative Communication Board (e.g.: https://www.cboard.io)
- Simple communication in general (the built-in Notepad and Virtual Keyboard is perfect)
- Entertainment (Point & Click Games like https://store.steampowered.com/app/2377970/Cats_Hidden_Around_the_World/)
Supplies
- 01 - Arduino Pro Micro 5v (Atmega32u4, 16 Mhz)
- 01 - MPU6050 (accelerometer/gyroscope)
- 01 - SparkFun Electret Microphone Breakout (reference1, reference2)
- 01 - 500Ω Potentiometer
- 02 - Leds
- 01 - 150 - 470Ω Resistor
- 02 - Push buttons
- 02 - Terminal connectors (KF301 5.0 3P)
- 01 - 22 AWG 6 Pairs Cable (reference)
- 01 - Optionally, a (cheap) Headset to serve as a case for your project
Demo
Real footage of head mouse in action
Circuit
- The mouse cursor is controlled by head movement while any sound detected in the microphone makes the left mouse click.
- The potentiometer adjust the microphone sensibility per your environment noise level
- [Optional] The left button performs a left click (useful for assisting somebody)
- [Optional] The right button briefly interrupts the board (useful for fixing your head position)
Mounting
I used protoboards to test the concept but I soon had to migrate the circuit to a PCB Board Prototype because it was getting a little messy.
The most challenging part is to find a good [and cheap] headset which is easy to remove the cable and audio components and there is enough space to place the accelerometer board.
The original microphone and its wire was also entirely replaced with my own components.
The Code
Upload the code contained the ZIP file attached in this project to your Arduino Board.
NOTE: You will need VSCode and PlatformIO extension - sorry, but it is much better than Arduino IDE in so many aspects like a great built-in dependency manager which downloads the correct library version automatically.
You can also find the code at https://github.com/vitorccs/arduino-head-mouse