Week 11:

 Input Devices

Task

I have this week with Input Devices and completed the following:

Designing a Multitouch Input Device
1st Redesigning Attempt - Aligning
2nd Redesigning Attempt - Staggering
3rd Redesigning Attempt - Modifying

Redesigned Matt Keeters Multitouch-board

I came up with an idea for my final project after Neils presentation of various input devices. The ideas is that I will produce an array of co-located capacitive touchpads and a multicolor LEDs. The touchpad will serve as input device to schedule a calendar event.

I decided to redesign Matt Keeters Capacitive Multitouch, so that I could attach a wire and thus be able to integrate the touchpads in my design.

PCB Production

Running Design Rules

Creating Toolpath in Fabmodules

The Milled Board:
The board ended up with some rough edges, which I decided to romove with some gentle sanding. I thus also checked for condutivity before populating the board.

Populating with these Components:

Connecting to the Programmer
Argh - the design didn't include a breakout for the ISP. Matt informed me that he used a clip but that I could also solder wires to the relevant pins and break that out to a standard 3x2 AVR programming header.
So I went back to the datasheet and came up with this (erronous) schematic for the connection

I investigated the Connections
Looking for possible the error

Accidental Damaging the PCB

Revised Connection Schematic

The Final PCB

Burning the Bootloader

Uploading the Code

Neil Feedback to the Board
I might have to redo this board to get the desired functionality
Neil suggested that I either:

  • Add 'Followers' to the board
  • Create seperate board close to the sensor

Way ahead:
I decided to follow the ladder suggestion and created a simple input devices with a regual button.
The video to the right shows how the button controls the onboard led

Noticable Work from other FabAcademists