Touchpad Built With an Arduino and Infrared
We’ve seen a few multitouch projects including a 5 minute dirt cheap pad and the more complex flexible multitouch display. This multi-touch device (the TRKBRD) is basically is a finger tracking sensor. By the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like a complicated setup. The tech specs involve two infrared lasers and 110 infrared sensors. The signals are interpreted by a simple Math program on an Arduino.
As the video on top shows, the infrared sensors and the laser detect the shadow of the finger. Each laser (one on the left and the other on the right) gauges the coordinates of the shadows and a simple equation program plots the exact position of the finger based on where the coordinates intersect. The build is a working model and not like the sleek multi-touch surfaces we see advertized. But it is Arduino based and therefore much cheaper to put together.
This project joins our superb collection of Arduino projects. Here’s more multitouch:
