USB ROTARY CONTROLLER

Here’s a little side project I worked on recently - a USB controller with a rotary dial.

It’s just a proof of concept and a very rough prototype as you can see!

In the past I’ve created many touchscreen applications but I wondered what interactions could be possible when a touch screen is not practical or is too expensive.

A keyboard and mouse seem a bit of an overkill and it’s also quite frustrating interacting with a smart TV using a remote control.

So I built this device and a little browser-based demo to show how it works.

The great thing about a rotary control is that you can be quite precise by moving it slowly while a quick twist can make the cursor cover a lot of ground.

It can be used in many situations when an input is required.

It can even be used as a game controller and some types of games are well suited to it.

Not sure where I'm going next with it, but it was really fun to make this. I definitely need to get a Raspberry Pi and Pico Controller!

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