FLipMouse

Dear followers, dear interested AT enthusiasts,

sorry for this long delay, we are not very good at doing social media ;-)

Anyway, we are working quite hard on our FLipMouse.

If we had a look at our current design, we saw it is already quite stuffed with all the functions we built in.

As we are hackers too, we were fascinated of the ESP32 right from the beginning.

So we proudly announce that we are doing in cooperation with a Viennese company a new PCB design based on ESP32.

It will be fully command compatible to existing v2.x devices and GUIs, but now we can do much more additional stuff:

-) WebGUI for configuration (of course only enabled by physical user input)

-) So much more space for configuration and IR commands

-) Learning mode

-) More advanced analog processing

-) Neopixel animations

If you want to check out the current status, have a look at the firmware repository:

https://github.com/asterics/FLipMouse-esp32

The PCB is not finished, but of course it will be freely available

We will drop the concept of a complete construction kit with THT parts only, instead we will optimize the PCB for smaller and cheaper surface mounted devices.

In addition, it will be much cheaper to produce and pre-assemble this PCB.

But no worry, we always will have a PCB a hacker can assemble :-).

In addition our FABI device (https://hackaday.io/project/13239-fabi-flexible-assistive-button-interface) will be ESP32 based as well.

If you have any suggestions on the new PCB/firmware please drop a comment!

One last remark: Why did Espressif saved the USB interface on the ESP32 :-)?

Now we need to place an additional LPC11U14 chip on our board...

Anyway, have a nice day!

Hi @all,

long time since our last post, but the development is going on!

Since we are deploying this device, a few additions were added.

The current firmware update provides new possibilities:

• Change mounting angle
• assign each slot a different protocol (BT and/or USB)

The mounting angle was interesting to implement, because some of our users were more comfortable with mounting the FLipMouse in a different angle (magic arm is e.g. mounted from the other side or top/bottom).

In addition, what might be more interesting is the fact, that it's now possible to select for each slot individually which interface should be used. So, on one hand you might control the mouse of your PC (USB-HID only), switch to another slot and control your smartphone (or any other Bluetooth keyboard/mouse capable device) via Bluetooth on the other hand.

If you select both, the mouse/keyboard commands are sent to both interfaces, so both is possible (nice, if Bluetooth is not connected).

So long, until the next update :-)

The 3D printed case works!

After a few changes, like too small holes and so on, we have a fitting 3D printed case now.

We also altered the mouthpiece, using a cigarette tip (cheaper and easier to buy here).

In addition to the new case design, we also updated the FLipMouse firmware, including following new features:

• Optimized memory handling for slots, increasing the usable memory
• Added a macro function for combined input actions
• Acoustic feedback improved, making a small click sound for sip/puf

Here are 2 pictures from the finished 3D printed version:

Modified mounting of the sensors:

If you want to build the 3D printed version too, you need a little bit different BOM:

• Additional parts: 6x screw nut (RS-components: 278-584)
• Replace the M4x25 screws by M3x25 screws

Everything else is the same!

Happy building!

As it is much more common to have a 3D printer at home instead of a laser cutter, we developed a 3D printed version of the case. It might be more expensive than the lasercut case, but it is much more convenient, especially if you want to assemble the FLipMouse by yourself.

We currently have a test print, it looks quite nice and because of the 3D printing, a few additional features are possible.

For example:

• No glue is necessary
• We will put metal thread inserts into the case (no thread cutter necessary), mounted with a solder iron
• Easier assembly

A few pictures of the prints:

The print took 4:20 hours with a Prusa i3 MK2 in "normal" resolution.

When the metal thread inserts arrive, we will try to fully assemble the case, of course you will get updates right here :-)

The design files are available at GitHub.

I designed the case with FreeCAD, thanks to the small getting started here at hackaday!

Using the FLipMouse with a normal PC/notebook is not a problem at all. Build it, plug it in and it works as mouse. In addition, you can switch to a second slot with keyboard cursor keys, making browsing through files and the web easier. This is done by the default slot settings, as it is pre-flashed with the firmware.

If you ever want to restore a FLipMouse to its default setting, just load the "default.set" file and overwrite all settings.

Using the FLipMouse with mobile devices can be a little bit more tricky. Android is not a problem, either you have USB-OTG functionality, then you immediately get a mouse cursor. If you don't have USB-OTG, don't worry, build the Bluetooth addon, pair your phone/tablet with the module and you are done.

There is still one major platform missing: iOS

It is a little bit more tricky to use a device like the FLipMouse (which acts like a mouse) on a mouse-free OS. Switch control is the keyword!

You need a FLipMouse with the Bluetooth addon (see https://github.com/asterics/FLipMouse/wiki/bt-conn)

Configure the FLipMouse in alternative mode, the joystick is now triggering key presses (the default settings map slot 2 to these settings).

Setup these key presses as switches in iOS:

Go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Switch Control -> Switches

and add a new switch, for each mouthpiece direction or external switch.

Afterwards, you could assign e.g. "Move to next item" to "left", "Select item" to "right" and the home screen to "down". If you want to use Siri too, you might assign the Siri activation to "up".

In November 2015, we went to Meru county in Kenya trying to elaborate a funded cooperation.

We visited different special schools with the need for Assistive Tools or low-cost PCs and the MUST university (Meru University of Science & Technology) for technical cooperation.

Unfortunately, this project didn't get funded, nevertheless it was a wonderful experience! A big thanks to Amos Kirongo, Dismas Kitaria and Ken Mbui for the pleasant journey to a beautiful country!

Copyright pictures: Sophia Rührer - Sophography (2015) - https://fb.com/sophographyphotography

"Freaky Tricky" and "Chordion" are accessible music interfaces developed by Georg Schmelzer Ziringer in cooperation with Harry Hötzinger, Cornelia Salomon (student of bachelors degree in Biomedical Engineering) and the AsTeRICS Academy team. Both music interfaces build upon the Open Source Software PureData. "Freaky Tricky" and "Chordion" can be combined with special input solutions - in our case with a FLipMouse.

Using the AsTeRICS framework (www.asterics.eu), the interface can be extended to use further tools, like a FaceTracker mouse with a webcam or an eyetracker like TobiiEyeX or the EyeTribe. Both solutions are supported by AsTeRICS and the corresponding models are included in the music interface download.

This video shows the music interface in action, played by Harry Hötzinger:

The interface consists of two parts: the Freaky Tricky step sequencer and the Chordion synthesizer:

If you want to try this on your own, just download the Chordion_FreakyTricky.zip file. Everything necessary is described in the README in there. Of course you can use this interface with a normal mouse or any other piece of AT solution.

Building a music interface like this is a unique solution to destroy barriers for people and kids with motor restrictions.

It's always annoying to copy&paste all the part numbers for a project.

To ease this work, here is a quick link to a Digikey basket for the FLipMouse:

Digikey quick basket

In addition, you need different parts, which are not provided by Digikey:

BOM without Digikey parts

If you prefer Mouser, Farnell or RS, please use the full BOM:

Full BOM

Our goal is the easiest construction of the FLipMouse.

To achieve this goal, we worked together with 3 students from a graphical school in Vienna, which helped us improving the graphical representation of this device.

The results of this cooperation are a book about a user of this device, our nice logo and a construction manual.

These people fostered our project:

• Sophia Rührer, fotographs (we will publish a wonderful picture book in a few days): https://www.facebook.com/sophographyphotography
• Joachim Doujak, logo: http://jojocomics.tumblr.com/
• Moritz Schwarzl, construction manual

Thank you very much for your support for this project!

Now you can find a construction manual at the files section of this project. Unfortunately there are a few errors in it, I will post an errata list soon. And of course, the manual will be updated if there is time!

I managed to build a small addon board, which enables Bluetooth communication with a variety of different devices, adding the support to use iOS based devices.

These devices don't have any USB-HID support, so it was necessary to use BT as communication channel.

The addon is simply a Bluefruit EZ-KEY HID module (from Adafruit), soldered on a perfboard.

In addition, the buzzer has to be moved on the addon board too, because of the limited space.

Currently the firmware is under testing, if you wanna try it, please use the "bluetooth" branch:

https://github.com/asterics/FLipMouse/tree/bluetooth

We will merge the branch, if everything works out fine

Necessary parts for the addon:

• Buzzer (you can re-use the existing one)
• 4k7 (0.125W) resistor (you can re-use R3 for that)
• Adafruit Bluefruit EZ-KEY HID
• Female header 2x5 2.54mm
• Perfboard: 55x27mm
• Some thin wires

Instructions:

1. Unsolder the buzzer and R3 (only if you don't have a new one) on the main PCB
2. Solder the female header as shown in picture 1
3. Solder wires to following pins of the header (the upper left is pin 1, the lower left is pin 2 on the main PCB):
   2 (VCC), 3 (buzzer), 7 (Teensy Serial3 RX), 8 (Teensy Serial3 TX), 10 (GND)
   Please use about 5cm wire for each pin and solder only ONE side
4. Put the wires through holes in the perfboard nearby the soldered pin
5. Solder the Bluetooth module, and connect following pins:
   "G" -> pin 10 (GND)
   "RX" -> pin 8 (Teensy TX)
   "TX" -> pin 7 (Teensy RX)
   "Vin" -> pin 2 (VCC)
6. Solder the buzzer and the 4k7 resistor as shown in picture 2
7. Connect one pin of the resistor to one pin of the buzzer
8. Connect the remaining pin of the buzzer to GND
9. Connect the remaining pin of the resistor to pin 3 (buzzer)
10. Mount the addon board and re-assemble the FLipMouse (Picture 3 & 4)

Picture 1: the female header position (upper left pin: 1; lower left pin: 2)

Picture 2: the Bluefruit EZ-KEY HID module & the buzzer

Picture 3: mounted addon board

Picture 4: assembled FLipMouse (without covers)

Update the firmware & you're finished!