usb mouse to nxt

[gudy]

Would it be feasible to connect a usb mouse to the NXT usb port, and use the mouse as an additional input device?
If you disassemble the mouse, and wire the various things in it properly, you'd get 3 touch sensors, and a X/Y position.

[pEhrlich]

I've been a fan of this idea for a long time (think of those miniscule portable mice!) One of them would be great for detecting slippage, I imagine. A while back I went so far as googling usb-I2C converters, and they do exist, for a price. I'm sure other people on this forum know more about the feasibility of converting usb and I2C. If that works, you might have a bit of work at getting mouse drivers to work properly on an NXT as well.

Ideas anyone?

[gloomyandy]

Hi,
It would be pretty hard to connect a USB mouse to the NXT directly, both the NXT and a mouse are USB slave devices neither is a master....

It might be possible to cook up som sort of hardware adaptor though, but it would almost certainly have to be an active (micro controller based device)...

It may be easier to use the parts inside the mouse directly, but I've not seen any projects doing this for a robot (but I've not looked that hard!)...

Andy

[allonhadaya]

Connect both the mouse and NXT to your computer, and write a program to send mouse values over a stream to the NXT. I did something similar with a wiimote. The downside is that it's not very portable. Another possibility is using a mobile phone instead of a computer. It could hide in your pocket while you control the NXT with a mouse... sneaky and impressive

Wiimote + Computer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n2_VgSf8g0

Mobile Phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4orb0xrdq1Q

Best of luck
Allon