Computing stuff tied to the physical world

New Proximity Plug

In Hardware on Feb 15, 2010 at 00:01

Yet another plug! This time it’s a proximity capacitive sensor based on the MPR084:

Screen shot 2010-02-14 at 22.01.08.png

This one has 8 inputs which can be connected to various surfaces to create capacitive touch sensors. There’s also a pin for a piezo sound unit to produce key clicks.

Slightly more elaborate schematic this time, with an extra 8-resistor array for pull-up:

Screen shot 2010-02-14 at 12.05.27.png

Yet again: connected via I2C, and supports no more than 3.6V as power source. There’s a solder jumper to choose between two I2C addresses, so you can use two of these for a total of 16 inputs on one port (or Plug Shield).

Haven’t tried this chip out yet, but it will be fun to see what it can do – once I get some prototype boards ready.