Turning A Cheap Optical Mouse Into A Robot Odometer

Arduino
Turning A Cheap Optical Mouse Into A Robot Odometer

John Graham-Cumming (JGC), author of The Geek Atlas, wrote in to let us know about a fun conversion he did with a cheap optical mouse:

For a small robot project I’m working on I needed a way to measure the robot’s progress across the floor. There are various possibilities, such as: use stepper motors (expensive and am recycling some old continuous run servos), add an encoder to the wheels (would need to go buy some parts for that), or use the optical sensor for a mouse.

I had a really old PS/2 optical mouse lying around which contains an MCS-12085 optical sensor that has a rather simple serial interface suitable for connection to a microcontroller. Inside there are two separate areas of components. On the right in the picture above is the PS/2 interface chips and four nice extras that I desoldered for later use (three microswitches and a quadrature encoder)…

This is a great example of repurposing something that might otherwise go to a landfill; and to top it off, JGC has posted some code you can use as an Arduino interface to the optical mouse sensor. Read all about his conversion at his blog.



The Geek Atlas
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12 thoughts on “Turning A Cheap Optical Mouse Into A Robot Odometer

  1. Tomek Brzezinski says:

    this is superb. I believe this is just what I needed. Thank for sharing!

  2. andres says:

    The old Apple usb optical mice had a direct pulse output. I had the same idea but unfortunately mechanical issues put the robot on hold.

  3. Torrent News » Convert a Cheap Optical Mouse Into a Robot Odometer [Robotics] says:

    […] | John Graham-Cumming via Make Zine […]

  4. Mengkonversi Optical Mouse Murah Ke Odometer Robot [Robotika] [lifehacker-on.blogspot.com] | . says:

    […] | John Graham-Cumming via Membuat Zine […]

  5. Convert A Mouse Into A Robot Odometer | Lifehacker Australia says:

    […] [John Graham-Cumming via Make Zine] […]

  6. Bosstiger says:

    Reblogged this on Gigable – Tech Blog.

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I'm a tinkerer and finally reached the point where I fix more things than I break. When I'm not tinkering, I'm probably editing a book for Maker Media.

View more articles by Brian Jepson

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