“Online meetings have taken over the world it seems. And as a teacher, I alternate between running classes and being an attendee in my bosses and colleagues’ meetings. But there are so many platforms, and each one operates a little differently. I wanted to have an easy control that I could use while attending all meetings, and that would keep me aware of my camera and mic status.
That’s where this box comes in. The purpose is to have command of all the frequently used camera and mic actions for my most frequently used online platforms, but just as a button control. And I have a set of LEDS that let me know the last status of my Camera and Mic.
Most online meeting software has “Hotkey” combinations that can trigger actions like muting, chat, video toggles and other useful things. When this is plugged into your computer, the computer sees it as a keyboard. So every button just sends out a string of keyboard hotkey commands used to control your meeting.
Because this was my very first Arduino programming project, (for real!) I had to learn what I was doing. Planning to share this, I made a ton of notes in the code to explain what is happening. This should make it easier for any fellow noobs to pick up, and easy to change as well. All these notes will help you find the lines to easily change if you are using other platforms like Discord, or GoToMeeting. But you will need to also relabel the top.
Last of all, most Hotkey combos only work on the Desktop Apps of the programs. I use the desktop apps, and that’s what this was built for. So if you only run meetings in a browser window, there is no guarantee all these will work. In fact, it for sure will not in some situations
Supplies:
Arduino pro Micro
6x pushbuttons
1x bussed resistor
2x header s
6x LEDS.
PCBs
USB to USB micro cable
Solder, soldering iron, and safety glasses”