TouchTrack Tactile Mouse

Background

For the Build2gether Inclusive Innovation Challenge I spoke with Vivek in the discord and we discussed some of the challenges experienced when gaming on a computer. One thing that stood out to me was the difficulty in using the existing mice given the need to move the mouse itself around heavily.

For this project I decided to build a new mouse with a focus on less movement for the user and easy to use touch buttons for triggering without needing a lot of pressure. The goal is to create a low cost, easy to reproduce device that others could also build.

Project

The mouse I've created here is controlled with the use of its analog stick. This allows fine control of the mouse from the position of a thumb allowing the user to avoid needing to shift around a mouse but rather keep their hands mostly stationary while they play.

To help reduce the amount of effort for triggering buttons this mouse also has adapted a touch sensor approach. To accomplish this I used conductive paint on a set of 3D printed buttons I created to sit inset of a base controller I designed.

Design

I used fusion 360 to design the controller. I first created a mock representation of the analog stick grove sensor that I built using measurements I took. With this in place I built a device around it and printed it out. I then painted the buttons, set them inset in the device, hooked up the alligator clips to the bottom of each button, and setup the xiao esp32s3 to handle the input.

Sanding and painting conductive elements

Testing

Here I am testing my project. I have assigned the buttons to the roles of left click, middle click, right click, and enter. You can see from this example I am able to move the mouse around on the screen with the joystick and I am able to click buttons.

I also open up the mouse and show how the connections are placed.