{"id":26422,"date":"2020-11-30T09:07:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T07:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/?p=26422"},"modified":"2020-11-30T09:07:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T07:07:45","slug":"mouse-controlled-mouse-controller-is-silly-but-could-be-useful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/2020\/11\/30\/mouse-controlled-mouse-controller-is-silly-but-could-be-useful\/","title":{"rendered":"Mouse-Controlled Mouse Controller Is Silly, But Could Be Useful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Useless machines are generally built as a fun pastime, as they do nothing of value by their very definition. The most popular type generally involves a self-cancelling switch. However, there’s plenty of other useless machines to build, and we think [Jeffery’s] build is particularly creative.<\/a><\/p>\n

The build consists of an XY gantry that moves a standard computer mouse. To control the gantry, a Raspberry Pi feeds the system G-Code relative to the motion of a second mouse plugged into the single-board computer. It’s pretty standard fare overall, with the Pi sending commands to an Arduino that runs the various stepper motors via a CNC controller shield.<\/p>\n

Yes, it’s a mouse that moves a mouse – and on the surface, this appears to be a very useless machine. However, we could imagine it being useful for remote control of a very old system that uses a non-standard mouse that is otherwise difficult to emulate. Additionally, it wouldn’t take much extra work to turn the XY gantry into a competent pen-plotter – of which we’ve seen many<\/a>. Video after the break.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n