Trackball motion tracking

[slijin]

I would use a gyro in conjunction with an accelerometer. I can't say much for trackballs though.

[Hawiian Cadder]

team 27 had a very good system this year, they made small vex encoders which dropped down onto vex omni wheels. that is what i would do. another way to do this would be to change the disks on the trackball in order to make them work at higher speeds.

[Duncan Macdonald]

It has been done in the past. In 2009 a couple teams made some traction control attempts.
Couple of ideas:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/32440 (you would have to mount 2 for x and y)
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...rackball+mouse

[woody]

This might be worth looking into:
http://imakeprojects.com/Projects/seeing-eye-mouse/

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by slijin

I would use a gyro in conjunction with an accelerometer. I can't say much for trackballs though.

A Gyro/Accelerometer combo will work in the short term but there is drift over time. Higher accuracy/lower drift sensors are available but expensive.

As for the original question it may be beneficial for you wo take apart an old mouse. Typically a trackball mouse includes two encoders that ride along the ball and measure the displacement (X and Z axis), it would be fairly easy to custom build your own devise with sufficient resolution to function at the required speed.