Final Project
Here you will find a lot of information about my final project. Deciding for a project was not that easy as I had several ideas. The determining factor was the question in which project I could learn the most.
The Idea
The goal of my final project is to design and build something like a trackball to be used with your foot. The intention behind it is to supplement the existing three foot buttons to get a complete mouse, replacing the use of your hands to move (and click) your mouse. The idea behind it is that it can be used in the same way as the ball in a trackball, but using a foot. It can then be used by anyone who has problems with precisely moving their arms and / or hands. If it works well the next step could be to add some special-function-buttons like a button to start voice control or dictation or features like a scrollwheel.
The idea is made with a frame that allows to place the buttons and the trackball at different distances. On the left there are the first new buttons mentioned in the text, then two of the existing foot-buttons. The trackball is also a single device placed in the frame, followed by the third existing button. On the right there are another two new buttons. With all parts being their own devices, we could also place the trackball at the left, or where it is good to use.
Variable space without sliding around
To fix the elements at their place effectively, there will be some notches for the foots of the foot buttons at the bottom of the opening. They will be as long as the opening. There will be also a lot of little slots at the edges on the long side of the opening to fix the elements at the required position with a little piece of wood or something else. At one side of the Board will be a tunnel for the technology. The part with the slots at that side will therefore not have the full height of the opening. That will give more space for the necessary cables.
What will be needed
To this time, I do not know what material or which processes I will use. In my view, that is the most exciting thing about the project for me. I know what the goal should be, but I still do not have a precise idea of how I can reach it.
Implementation of the final project
In the second week I tested a few CAD programs as you can read here. As openSCAD is the best tool for me, I tried to implement the final project in it.
Materials
| Qty | Description | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material one | x.y $ | Coming soon | Order many |
| Material two | |||
| Material three | |||
| Material four |