I've always been torn:

- I find it super annoying when the monitor goes to sleep when you're either reading something, or when I walk by the computer to check on something ("My code's compiling!") and I have to wiggle the mouse to wake it up.

- Leaving the monitor on all the time is super wasteful

The solution? The Motion Mouse Wiggler! Since an Arduino Leonardo or Micro can very easily emulate a USB mouse, the only other hardware that's needed is a PIR motion sensor to tell the Arduino when to wiggle the mouse cursor.

When I first came up with the idea I was afraid that the Arduino wiggling the cursor would cause the cursor to shiver or jump around when I was actually using the computer. So far I've built three of these which are in use on various computers around my house and so far I've found the movement to be undetectable, but your mileage may vary.

Supplies

• 1x Arduino Micro or Leonardo

• 5V PIR motion sensor such as a Panasonic NaPiOn AMN41121

• 2x 2.54mm 12-pin female header pin sockets

• microUSB cable

• 10kΩ resistor

• Small section of prototype board

• Wire wrap (or any thin wire)

Schematic

Sorry, I know this is pretty lame but it's better than nothing. Some day I'll draw up a proper one, but for the time being:

Arduino Code

/*

27 May 2020 - Jamie Maloway

SmartScreenSleep - V1.0

Enumerate as a mouse and wiggle the cursor whenever motion is detected.

Because the movement is so small it shouldn't be visible or disruptive.

I've used Panasonic AMN41121 sensors, however the same sketch should work with any similar sensor.

Based on the "ButtonMouseControl" example.

*/

// Use the Mouse library

#include "Mouse.h"

// set pin number for the motion sensor

const int pirSensorInput = 2;

int range = 5; // output range of X or Y movement; affects movement speed

void setup() {

// initialize the motion sensor input:

//pinMode(upButton, INPUT);

pinMode(pirSensorInput, INPUT);

// initialize mouse control:

Mouse.begin();

}

void loop() {

// read the sensor:

//int upState = digitalRead(pirSensorInput); // Where the PIR is connected

int pirState = digitalRead(pirSensorInput); // Where the PIR is connected

if (pirState ==1)

{

wiggleCursor();

}

// short delay to reduce the number of events

delay(100);

void wiggleCursor()

{

Mouse.move(1,0,0);

delay(500);

Mouse.move(-1,0,0);

}