KISS robotic phone control

Ok, “robotic” is kind of a stretch. It’s a KISS way of remotely pressing a fixed location button on a phone. The use case is several people remote into a PC to debug on an Android phone. Periodically the phone asks for general access permission and USB debugging permission. Luckily both permission dialogs have the accept button in the same location.

Parts required:
- 3x M3 bolts

•   zip ties for loose wires
  

• Ucel ‎ a14092600ux0438 actuator (5v) (Amazon)
• Tablet stylus and glue. You will glue the tip onto the actuator. The button goes on the opposite end of the actuator (see picture) (Amazon)
• USB relay module or similar (Amazon)
• Battery or power supply. Comments on the actuator say to run at 3V to avoid over-heating. The actuator actually works on 1.5V and is pretty wimpy but it would work. I’m running 3V with 2 C size dry cell batteries.

Print in PLA w/o supports. I printed with 2 perimeters and 20% fill. It works ok, but it could use higher fill especially the bar. The only odd thing about the print is that I immersed the bar in hot water to put a bow in it. This creates a spring action to help hold the fixture in place. several spacers (fwasher) are provided to adjust actuator to your phone.

As for the USB relay, there are YouTube videos and customer comments in Amazon on how to run the relay. I ended up writing a simple program to press the button for 600ms.

Since this is working from me, I probably won't refine the design. If you are to print, here are some suggestions:

• print bar at a higher fill level
• phone posts are beefier and wider than necessary. With a slicer tool, you can easily cut off both sides of the post.