Abstract

Our project is a wearable mouse controller for your computer. The modern mouse has persisted with the same basic design for decades and has potentially significant drawbacks, such as requiring a flat surface to function properly and requiring one that is opaque. We envisage a bold new design that will afford convenience, comfort, and elegance to something that most of us use all the time. Our objective is to create a wearable, free-floating glove that assumes all the functionality of a computer mouse. This glove will use a gyroscope to compute the tilt of one’s hand and an accelerometer to provide a more accurate sensor reading. It will also use a joystick button for scrolling and clicking functionality. All of these devices will be controlled using an Arduino microcontroller, and the sensitivity of the mouse will be adjustable using a smartphone.

Motivation

Since German tech company Telefunken released their design for the mouse in the mid-1960s, it has remained largely unchanged. Modern mice look the same and act the same, but now, due to their use of LED lights or lasers, require opaque surfaces. This means any kind of glass table is out of the question. All mice also require a surface to be hard and flat, which rules out even more options for surfaces.

With FreeHand, we aim to revolutionize mouse design, and ultimately how you interact with your computer in the most fundamental way. FreeHand requires no surfaces, which both solves the drawbacks with the modern mouse and allows you to sit back and relax, rather than be hunched over a desk. This design would be simple, affordable, and, most of all, convenient, which should be appealing to consumers.

How it works

Simply put the glove on, and tilt your hand! The direction and magnitude with which you tilt your hand in the glove will move the mouse cursor correspondingly. You can also use the Blynk app on your smartphone to adjust the sensitivity of the mouse using a slider.

How we built it

Working under physically distanced conditions, we did not have the lab space or abundance of resources that would be normally available to build a product like this. We built FreeHand entirely from a small Arduino starter kit and an external NodeMCU board at home.

We built FreeHand using an Arduino Leonardo microcontroller and a 6-sensor gyroscope/accelerometer. The gyroscope/accelerometer wired to the Arduino provided most of the cursor functionality. We then interpreted the data to compute Euler angles (roll, pitch, and yaw) that represent the tilt of the glove. These angles, together with the sensitivity inputted from the user’s smartphone, in turn move the mouse cursor.

We also wired a joystick/button to the Arduino microcontroller, which is used to scroll up and down a page and to perform mouse clicks.

This apparatus was then mounted onto a glove with hook and loop straps and adhesive strips. It was carefully done so as to maintain comfort while keeping the product durable and robust.

Finally, a NodeMCU WiFi-capable board was installed on the glove. This board communicates with your smartphone to send a voltage signal (based on the inputted sensitivity) to the Arduino microcontroller that is then read to adjust the sensitivity of the cursor.

Challenges

The first challenge we faced was that the Euler angles would not zero out when the glove was flat. Having an accurate zero point is critical for the mouse to properly function. We found that there was an initial offset built into the gyroscope and accelerometer, which we exactly computed and subtracted off.

The second challenge we faced was in the gyroscope data. The readings from the gyroscope would slowly increase without bound, even if the glove was clearly not tilting. We discovered that the drift was a problem with the gyroscope sensor itself. To combat this drift, we employed a 4% correction using the accelerometer readings. This kept the readings stable and accurate.

What’s Next

The next step for FreeHand is to use smaller and better parts to make the glove slicker and more comfortable. Building the sensors into the glove itself will likely be more appealing to consumers.

We also hope to transplant this technology to other settings. For example, we could deploy it as an easy alternative to traditional remote controls that use a cursor to navigate your TV. This might make it faster, easier, and more convenient to, for instance, stream movies.

Built With

• arduino
• blynk