Virtual Keyboard

Archfeld sent a strange piece of technology called the Senseboard which is a portable keyboard, except that there's really not any keys. Or a board. And it can communicate via RF for all your strange wearable applications.

Comments

Question:

[Wind_Walker]

Will the keyboard have a configurable layout? Remember, not everybody in the world still used the outdated "Qwerty" format...

Also, without seeing the keys, how would I know if it is the long-backspace button, or the shorter button (which I hate!)?

Also, there is a definate tactile feel to pressing the keys; you can *tell* when the button is depressed. This feature is difficult to replicate.

This would really cause problems with respect to picking up the "board" and quickly working on it. Believe it or not, sight *is* important.

This device will never get off the ground, for my money.

Re:Ssomeone has to say it....

[eclectric]

Actually, the paper idea is a pretty good one. That way, you'd have something to reference too visually if you "got off track".

I wonder how the unit is centered, ie, if I move both of my hands 1 inch from the other, am I going to be typing on different keys, are is the "center" based around each hand. This would be useful for people who like to actually type farther apart than the normal keyboard allows.

Hmm

[Man of E]

I wonder how the keyboard "knows" when I'm actually trying to press on a key, versus when I'm just resting my fingers in the home position?
What if I need to grab a drink? What if I briefly wave my hands around? What if I scratch my head because I don't know what to type next?

I'm not sure that the language recognition and "artificial intelligence" they proclaim this thing has would make it comfortably usable, even for short periods of time. Too many little inconveniences, and things you'd have to stop doing while having a keyboard permanently attached to your hands.

Re:Cool, but...

[Zurk]

its easy to set up a small rubber pad with the key symbols stuck on it so you get tactile feedback with a rollable non electronic pad which you can carry around.
just unroll it on the nearest surface and start typing on the rubber. tactile feedback and true spillproof keyboard with no electronics. just chuck it in a washing machine to clean it.

Think outside the keyboard

[byrd77]

The coolest thing about this is not emulating an old fasion 101/4 key keyboard, it's the potential to input in new, creative ways.

If you want to re-define your keyboard to be basketball shaped, have at it. There is some potential for great ergonomic improvements here.

Also, think of the potential for virtual instruments, art, the possibilities are endless.

Given all this, I hope they leave the interface open, so everyone can contribute.

Re:Cool, but...

[Anonymous DWord]

That's similar to the problem the military had when testing out the F-16, which has electric controls- the stick didn't move at all. Pilots kept complaining about it, so they put a little play into it, even though technologically they didn't need it. People like physical responses to the things they touch.

Right out of Einstein's Bridge (c) 1997

[chrisvr]

The first time I saw these virtual keyboard things, I immediately said "Hey-- I read this in a science fiction story once!"

After a bit of searching, I found it-- the exact concept exists in _Einstein's Bridge_, by John Cramer-- came out in 1997.

Here's the bit that discusses the idea:

He opened his briefcase and removed the magic glasses and the data cuffs. He switched on the small computer inside and made sure that its sensor flap was extended outside when he latched the briefcase lid, then slipped it back under the seat in front of him. He pressed a switch recessed in a thick earpiece of the magic glasses, then put them on. He draped the flesh colored data cuff around his left wrist, just in front of his wrist watch, and secured it with the Velcro joint underneat. He repeated the process on his right writs and activated the calibration process, flexing finger, twisting wrists, and bending elbows.

The glasses produced a display screen presented vertically in front of him and a horizontal keyboard etched in bright lines in midair. He reached out, grasped the screen, and moved and stretched it until it filled the full area of the seat back in front of him, then positioned the virtual keyboard to a more confortable position at the surface of the tray table. He called up the report he'd been working on earlier and began to type and revise.

...

He held up the flesh-colored objects in his lap. "These are data cuffs. They go around my wrists and measure my hand and finger positions by monitoring the movement of tendons in my wrists with Doppler-shift ultrasonics. They send the information to the computer over another infrared link. The glasses were making the image of a keyboard on the tray table. When I typed, the cuffs detected my finger motions, the computer correlated them with the locations of the keys it was drawing, and the words I typed appeared on the computer screen that I saw on the seat back."

Thought it was a facinating idea when I first read it-- seems fairly useless without the "magic glasses"...

learning!

[Anonymous Coward]

it would be a good idea for it to have a learning ability (like voice rec software). you put them on and hook them up the the computer, then type on your regular keyboard for a few days and let the little guys figure things out.