Making a Keyboard with Mutating Keycaps?

Montreal Geek asks: "I'm currently working on a pet project of mine for which I now find myself with the financial resources to bring to completion: the International Keyboard from Heck. The basic idea (most of the electronics and software for it have already been written) is that the keyboard has a variable layout (and a nice interface to change that layout) with the actual images on the keycaps changing to match what glyph/code-point it will generate. My problem is that I am unsure of which hardware solution to use for the actual, physical keycaps. My original prototype keycap uses a 7x9 array of leds under a lexan surface, but the power requirements of this many leds on a whole keyboard (even when scanning) is a tad prohibitive, and the lexan doesn't feel very good under a finger. Although glowing red keycaps look cool at first, I'm a bit worried that they will end up overly aggressive and annoying in the long run. Can you think of better alternatives? Keep in mind that the design must be resistant to repeated impacts (it is a keyboard after all) and, preferably, have fairly low power consumption so that the device remains practical for laptops." Although a few years from being truly affordable, might OLED technology be appropriate for this project? What other ideas might work out well for such a piece of hardware?

Comments

Fiber optics?

[diesel_jackass]

Have you researched optical fiber at all?

Sticky tape

[tsa]

Stick the letters on with sticky tape. If you want to change the layout you can easily pull them off.

Clear keycaps + LCD?

[rpresser]

Just guessing here, but what about using an lcd panel under the keycaps, and using clear keycaps?

Darn.

[Dannon]

Misread the title for a moment there. Thought it was talking about muting keycaps.

I was hoping this would be a cure for IRC shouting.

Electroluminescent

[perlyking]

Lots of Electroluminescent panel squares?

It would be fiddly but be low power and look cool.

Animation.

[perlyking]

And.... if you get it to work you could animate the keyboard :-) Imagine ripples spreading out from each key as it is pressed...

Re:Animation.

[Wiwi Jumbo]

Or for that matter helping people with choices.. "Y" or "N" flashing on the keyboard when you have a yes or no decision.

There's probably lots of stuff you could do with an animated keyboard....

LCD keycaps

[Hurga]

Check http://www.lcd-keys.com/

Hurga

Re: LCD keycaps

[Montreal Geek]

Those are indeed very cool, but they do not "feel" like a traditional keycap (yes, I have one I've been playing with).

LCD also suffers from angle of vision; you'd be surprised at how faded a keycap looks when it's at the edge of the keyboard. Place yourself in a confortable typing position and look at the numeric keypad on a typical PC keyboard: already over 30 degrees of angle for most people.

OLCD [as the editor suggested] looks promising, but very expensive.

-- MG

Switches with built in graphical LCD's

[ikeleib]

If you are made of money, check out these push buttons with built in graphical LCD's. They even have multicolor backlights.

www.screenkeys.com

Not quite the same, but...

[Rick the Red]

Years ago I had an idea for a keyboard where you could change the layout as you saw fit, but unlike you I lack the resources to do anything with it. The basic idea is that each keycap has one to eight pins that fit into eight sockets in each underlying switch. Each socket has an optical sensor to tell if a pin has entered the socket when you press the key. Each keycap has a unique combination of pins, making 255 possible values for any given keycap (you can't use "0" because if you remove all the pins the switch can't tell when you press the key). E.g., the "A" key has an ASCII value of 65 and has two pins, one in the 1s position and the other in the 64s position. You could put the "A" key in any position you want and the keyboard will know it's an "A" when you press it. Just don't break off any pins when you move keycaps!

There, it's out in the public now, so use it but don't try to patent it or I'll sue your lame ass.

Sorry, but I don't have any ideas for making the printing on the keycap change dynamically.

LCD?

[Panoramix]

I don't think there'll be many options to choose from.

Maybe opaque keys with a hole on the top, and a single-character LCD panel fitted in the hole (not 7-segment but pixelled, like those in "scientific" calculators). Then you can use a single bright light inside the keyboard that will shine through the white dots. And you could add a potentiometer to control the intensity of the light, like a car dashboard, in case it gets annoying. And you can put two lights, one green and one red, and a switch to turn on one or the other, or both, so you can change the light color.

I'm guessing power consumption should be much lower than leds on each key, too.

Use Software!

[Arthur Dent]

Hardware?

To paraphrase and mutilate:

I just want to say one word to you - just one word : Software!

Check out a picture and the marketing stuff.

Should be real easy to project any kind of key using this technology.

...how about making a keyboard without ...keys

[jukal]

I had this idea some two-or-so years ago. Meanwhile, I think someone already implemented it. I personally, and I think a significant percentage of others, don't have a look at the keyboard very often. After typing millions of characters you just know where the keys of the qwerty keyboard are. So, I think the perfect solution for especially PDA usage, would be to wear "data gloves" - with no physical keyboard at all.

You would just "calibrate" your "keyboard" by typing "Ok, now lets calibrate this keyboard - the keys are here 123 poi zxc mnb". And after then just start typing.

The only problem with this is that - the "data gloves" are expensive and clumsy. If someone knows how build something like this otherwise, please let me know :))

OT: Warm the keys, reduce the RSI risk?

[ivi]

The following is -pure- speculation on my part:

As the symptoms of RSI (that we experience - all
too often, eg when mousing & keying at all hours
of the day or night) may come, in part, from the
more or less constant touching of cold, at least
in Winter, plastic this guy's idea might help.

Ie, if the dynamic keytops that this inventor is
set to engineer happen to -warm- the tips of the
fingers instead of chilling them... I, for one,
wouldn't be surprised to see a decrease in RSI &
an increase in comfort resulting from their use.

Has anyone else noticed different levels of RSI-
symptoms with different ambient temeratures...?

PS I'm also looking to engineer a comfortable
seat, for my computer desk, that enables me to
peddle &/or otherwise exercise my legs while
at work with my vast array of systems. Ideally,
it will do something with the energy produced
by my moving my legs (eg on bicycle-like ped-
dles, slightly in front of me), like generate
electricity from it...

Hey! With bits from an old exercise bike, an
old automobile alternator, et al. this may be-
come the 2003 Killer DIY Project for Geeks! :-)

Perhaps there should be a contest (annual or
monthly, you choose) for Best DIY Geek Project.

Why label the key caps at all?

[rthille]

My main keyboard at home doesn't have any keycaps. It's a prototype NeXT keyboard that I bought from one of their hardware engineers. It doesn't have anything printed on any of the keycaps. It keeps people from messing with my computer! I suppose it would work even better if I used a non-qwerty layout :-)

A simple, soon-to-be inexpensive solution.

[cybermace5]

Here's a tip.

Go to eInk and check out a few of their products. They'll prototype up some stuff for you at a pretty reasonable cost, in the $20k range.

It's thin, it's light, it's power-saving, it's going to be pretty cheap once large-scale manufacturing kicks in. You could seal this stuff under a clear keycap. The major engineering problem, that I can see, is getting all the graphics data to the keys. Based on how the tech works, you'd probably be making a segmented character display, rather than dot-matrix. If you want a dot-matrix graphics display, they have to put an active-matrix array behind the eInk layer to control the dots.

The stuff is also easy to see in bright light...something difficult to achieve with LEDs. Plus, it stays in the state you left it...no blank keyboard when your KeyCapWriter drivers crash on powerup.

If you really insist on them glowing, put a single LED in the key and front-light the eInk with a plastic light guide.

You'll align your product with another emerging technology, probably strengthing both companies' chances (or pinning your chances on their success, whatever way you look at it).

I don't work for eInk; wish I did. They once had an opening for a hardware engineer.

Reposte

[mmol_6453]

What kind of computer needs to switch layout so often that this is worth it? Why not just buy another keyboard and a good keyboard switch box?

Any computer that plays games, does CAD, or uses any program where keyboard shortucts are useful.

What's wrong with a touch screen and a CRT?

The same thing as gloves used for modeling. Your hands and arms get tired from holding them up for so long. Aside from that, touchscreens wear out. Mechanical switches don't. (That's why my IBM Model M keyboard still works. :)