Arduino PowerPoint Pointer

The last time that I had to do an PowerPoint presentation it was very frustrating to be all the time with my mouse in my hand, it was not simple design for this function.

With a new presentation coming up titled "Introduction to Arduino," I thought, what best way to show some of the capabilities of the Arduino board then to build a quick power point presenter tool with it.

The first idea that pops has, "Why not use the TV Remote?" Design to be hold in a more ergonomic position that the mouse (for this case).

Step 1: What You Need?

1 x Arduino Leonardo

1 x IR Sensor ( Infrared Receiver VS1838B use in this project.)
1 x TV Remote
1 x Micro USB Cable 

Male-to-Male Jumper Wires (MM) 

Optional 
1 x Mini Breadboard
1 x Donut Board

1 x Arduino Prototype Shield with Mini Breadboard

Don't have components? Don't worry. Just click the component's name. 

Step 2: Build Your Circuit.

The connection diagram is very easy, simple connect the GND from the sensor to Arduino GND pin, 5V from the sensor to the 5V pin in the Arduino and the Data pin from the sensor to Digital Pin 2 of the Arduino.

Step 3: Upload The Code.

The code part is divided in two steps. In the fist one, you will need to read the keys that you want to use from your TV Remote. It this you will be able to decode the IR signal send out from the remote.

The second part, we will use the information from step one, and assign the keys to there new functions as PowerPointer pointers.

Start by downloading the IR remote Arduino Library and install it in the correct folder. You can downloaded from there.

Do not forget to follow installation procedure recommend in the github page.

For step one, upload the Code 1 to your Arduino. Open a Serial Monitor window, if everything is ok, you should start to different numbers every time you press on key in the TV remote.

Serial Monitor Output

Store the numbers corresponding to the keys that you want to use. In my case, I used the central foreword and backward key in my TV remote.

Replace my numbers in the "If" structures in the Code 2 and upload.

If you are using the Arduino Leonardo, after the upload, every time that you press the selected TV remote keys, they will act as the foreword and backward arrows from your keyboard.

I used the arrow keys for pushing the slides forward and backward.

Step 4: Test Your Pointer

On PowerPoint

Now open your presentation and if you are in "Slide Mode", the slides will change back and foreword every time that you press previous selected keys from your TV remote.

Other Arduino board

If you are using other Arduino boards, I think that is also possible to build this project however some changes need to be done.

The big difference is that the Atmega8U2 or equivalent chip, responsible for the communication between the ATmega328 and the computer, needs to be flashed. I did not had the need to do this, because with the Arduino Leonardo, Zero and DUE appear as native keyboard or mouses when defined and connected to your computer.

Thanks for reading.

Download:

Arduino IDE

Sources:https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/Tiobel/arduino-powerpoint-pointer-f499f8?ref=part&ref_id=21297&offset=2

Unknown

Author & Editor

My Robot Education Sdn. Bhd. (Robotedu.my) was founded in 2015 as the first robotics education centre in Malaysia to provide Arduino-based robotics courses for youths. Our vision is to be able to provide robotics education to every youth in Malaysia.