Capacitive Touch Button

The capacitive touch button was created as a follow-up to the Platteville button, a mechanical “click” button created at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville by the authors. Its creation was prompted by a request from a speech therapist who tested the Platteville button and was seeking an alternative to the commercially available capacitive touch buttons. Capacitive touch buttons require no pressure to activate, which makes them ideal for young children or individuals that have difficulty with fine motor controls, or who need to reduce extraneous stimuli such as the audible “click.” Few capacitive touch buttons exist on the market, and those that do are expensive. From the need for a cheaper alternative that could be readily ordered and assembled by anyone with a little 3D printing and soldering experience, the Capacitive Touch Button was born. With a price of approximately $15 per unit, it is much more affordable than commercial alternatives. The goal of this project was to make “n