Mouse based motor control, would you buy?

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mlw's Avatar (by Gravatar)mlw posted on
June 9, 2005, 9:10 am
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As part of my $500 robot project, as I've posted here before, I'm using a
mouse as part of the motor control interface. When you think of it, a mouse
is almost perfect for this application. It containes all the hardware to
interface the encoders to the computers and it follows a fairly well
documented protocol.

Well, I was thinking, and what do you think of this: Using a USB\PS/2 mouse
controller with scroll and three button inputs as a three axis generic
encoder interface board. Depending on the software options, you could use
the three buttons as zero marks for full X/Y/Z motion. You could use the
PS/2 port or USB port. The whole thing could be built for a unit cost of
about $3.00 (in moderate quantities).

Anyone think there is a viable market? If you're curious google for an
"HT82M98A" controller. About a buck each in a quantity of a thousand.

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The Artist Formerly Known as K's Avatar (by Gravatar)The Artist Formerly Known as K posted on
June 9, 2005, 2:06 pm
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Re: Mouse based motor control, would you buy?


I'm not sure I see the utility of just being able to read encoders and
deriving encoder distance travelled. I'd guess most potential buyers
would be looking for more in a motion control product, but I'm no expert
on the market.

Personally, I do the same thing already on a single board for two motors
with encoders. But I also have on the same board speed control,
odometery, and a series of commands that let me turn to a relative or
absolute angle, travel specific distances, and more, all with an i2c
interface, but it could be motified for rs-232, 485 or whatever fairly
simply.  Required part count:1 plus a resistor, a bypass cap, a ceramic
oscillator and connectors. Cost (parts only) about $9.00 in single unit
quantities, but that could be dropped down to 3 bucks or so (I'm
guessing) by using a different, OTP, microcontroller. The external
oscillator could also be dropped. The only bit that's missing is USB
support.

Are you factoring in labor costs for this?

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mlw's Avatar (by Gravatar)mlw posted on
June 9, 2005, 12:56 pm
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Re: Mouse based motor control, would you buy?



The market is so diverse, I'm not sure anyone really is, so you're opinion
is about as valid as anyone elses.


The $3.00 unit cost is a buck for the chip, estimate $1.00 additional parts
plus PC board, and estimate $1.00 assembly. It may be $4.00 if some of
those things are off too much, but I don't see how. Hell, if it is "too"
expensive to build it, you could buy mice OEM and dissect them.





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