Hello again! It has been a while since the previous update, but holidays and small home office renovations came in between me and Tako!!
Not to worry, this update is quite a doozy!
As you’ve seen in the title, there is a brand new navigation system for Tako: a joystick! I was somewhat dissatisfied with the buttons, as they felt a bit more clunky than expected for moving around the UI. So I went on Aliexpress and looked for alternatives input methods and found this simple joystick as a (somewhat) plug/play replacement.
This is what I found (affiliate link)
The plug/play replacement code, wasn’t so much plug/play, especially struggling in lowering the lag when moving around. You can see in the video below that it’s ok, but still not great. More work needed to refine the input when moving around. The click input instead is immediate. Overall it’s a much better and more intuitive way to interface with the remote compared to the individual buttons, which I’m really happy with!
I’ve also updated my GitHib repo with the latest version of the code, if you are following along on this crazy journey!
You may have also noticed I’m moved away from a breadboard, as I’m also moving toward integrating a battery to finally go wireless (as a true remote should be!), so for now I’ve 3D printed a very simple support frame on which I’ve screwed the various components and the joystick navigation is already feeling like a massive upgrade in this new format.
The frame is nothing special, just a temporary support, but for those of you curious, here’s what it looks like:
Next on the to-do list is a first test with a battery and USB-C port for recharging! I’ve already have the parts with me, so the next update should arrive a bit faster!
Happy tinkering!