As the most direct interface between computer and programmer, keyboards can be a deeply personal, sometimes almost religious thing. Some find solace in their vintage IBM Model M, or luxurious leather keyboard, but maker [Carol Chen] took things into her own hands, quite literally. [Carol]’s Maker Faire exhibit has a half dozen specimens of interesting commercial tactile and ergonomic options…but [Chen]’s personal keyboard, where she commits to her work as a full-time coder, has been made to her own exacting specifications.

 

What can you build with a ballpoint pen and some extra parts? [gzip] found himself with a bonus box of right angle switches and other miscellaneous parts and set out to build a joystick. Simple arcade joysticks use switches that are actuated by the movement of the stick and this design embraces the concept. The four tactile switches are mounted on protoboard facing each other with part of a ballpoint pen in the middle. When the pen is moved it presses against one or more switches to close, completing a circuit. For good measure he even incorporated a fire button into the top of the “stick”. Now we just need someone to make this work with a tiny Ms. Pac-Man emulator.

Touch screen interfaces are generally hard and flat. Impress tries to break from that tradition by making the display flexible. Allowing you to feel more like you are interacting with the display. In the image above, the circles seem to physically fall into the dent made by your fingers. Another application shows some rudimentary 3d modeling being done by physically pushing on the vertexes. This prototype is very interesting, we’d love to see much higher resolution on the input side of things. It states that it does pressure sensitivity, but we weren’t able to distinguish it in the video. Maybe you can, catch the video after the break. Maybe laying one of these on some foam would be another alternative.

We love alternative inputs. They can revitalize an old classic or add a twist to most any mundane task. Here, we see a perfect example where the game Punch Out for the NES is being controlled by a punching bag type thing. The impact sensors were made by hand, and wired to a PC game pad. They were mounted on some foam, allowing for a nice mushy punching surface.  There’s some feedback too, when your character is hit, a custom script detects the change in the sprites color and sends a signal to an Arduino. Right now, it just lights an LED, but the goal is to signal a strobe to make you flinch. This looks like it would be fun to play with, especially if you were to make it a little more high impact.  You can see a video of them lightly assaulting it after the break.

The Feelspace tactile compass is a good example. It is little more than an electronic compass hooked to array of vibrators arranged along a belt, but it allows the wearer to know which way is north at all times by pulsing only the northernmost vibrator. It’s intended to be worn at all times, so it creates a sort of directional sixth sense for the user without the need to constantly check a device. If they are able to reduce the size of the housing unit and combine it with these new displays, it could be worn inconspicuously under clothes.

If you want more native superpowers, body modder [Steve Haworth] has a solution. By implanting a silicone-coated neodymium magnet into the fingertip, the owner of the implant becomes capable of sensing magnetism with a degree of sensitivity unattainable by simply holding a magnet. One person who had the magnet implanted reported feeling magnetic sensors at a library and feeling the location of a motor in an electric can opener six inches from his hand.

We’re always curious about input fed to the body by worn or implanted devices, and with these advances, the notion of data and sensory integration is almost a palpable reality. Pun intended, but can you blame us?

[via Engadget]