This hacker turned his mouse into a webcam, and you can too

Did you know that your optical mouse contains a tiny, low-resolution camera? Web developer and gadget hacker Franci Kapel does, and he decided to rip apart his Logitech RX 250, take the ADNS-5020 optical sensor, and use the 15×15 pixel grayscale image as the source for a very rudimentary webcam.

This project requires some soldering, an Arduino and Ethernet shield, as well as some basic code. Kapel has done most of the work though, so you just have to follow his tutorial to go from mouse to a webpage with a live view of whatever is directly under it.

➤ Convert Optical Mouse into Arduino Web Camera

Image Credit: Franci Kapel