In the latest Atmel Edge episode, Analog Aficionado Paul Rako explains how digital buttons, sliders and wheels can be used to make popular sprinkler timers easier to use.
“We’re going to do a system-level redesign, going through this from block diagrams. Then come up with an alternate and then apply some technology that Atmel can help you with. Things like button, wheels and sliders, where you don’t need physical, discrete switches anymore,” said Rako
“I’m going start going through the programming. And that’s where I think, with a redesign and rethinking, and using some modern cool-person things like button sliders and wheels. There’s no physical button. It’s not expensive. You can put a thousand of these buttons on the same circuit board.”
As we’ve previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel offers market-proven technology for implementing nonmechanical buttons, sliders and wheels on any touch-sensitive device.
These integrated circuits (ICs) enhance the user experience with precision and reliability, while delivering optimized low-power characteristics, a critical requirement for today’s battery-powered handheld and mobile devices. The technology supports simple 1–10 button configurations as well as more complex scanned-matrix configurations of up to 48 buttons – at very low cost per button.
In addition to the application specific chips, Atmel offers the QTouch Suite for embedding buttons, sliders and wheels into AT91SAM and AVR micro controllers (MCUs).
Interested in leaning more about Atmel’s buttons, sliders and wheels? You can check out a full product breakdown here.
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