In trying to design a calibration device that can monitor motion of a surface I attempted to use existing electronic in a typical optical mouse. It has what I need and unfortunately a whole lot more.
I am sure that simple circuits that have the right sensors, LED as well as navigation engine already exist somewhere.
As you know an optical mouse works by comparing pictures that it takes from the surface that it is on. It apparently is capable of taking at least 1500 pictures each second and able to detect a difference and then determine which direction the mouse (or the surface) has moved.
I am looking to do that. And once I am able to trigger a response, I am hoping to send that to an Arduino controller and turn one of its pins high so that instructions can be sent to other electroinc parts of my project.
I have made more progress in finding resources and I will keep posting them here in case someone else has these same questions.
In this video you see someone who is doing the same thing as I want to do except that I don’t care about the travelled distance and all that I want to do is to have something else done as soon as motion is sensed. I am sure it will be a fun program to write as soon as the right hardware is located. Right now it looks like the mouse industry is at a pause.
Sounds like an optical mouse is a good solution for that; I suspect there are a variety of resources out there for using them, too. You might try searching the Internet for “hacking an optical mouse”.
