Keyboards are currently the most universally accepted computer input devices. They may be wired, wireless, or virtual, but the chances are that you’re within a few centimeters of a keyboard right now. [Federico Terzi] built a prototype from an Arduino and an accelerometer which conceptually resembles writing in Palm’s old Graffiti, though this version is performed in mid-air with a handheld instead of a little square at the bottom of an LCD screen. He can also operate wirelessly with a Bluetooth module and battery.
The task of the Arduino is to take data from the accelerometer and feed it to the computer whenever a 12mm switch is pressed. Each letter is individually learned by his Python code and scikit-learn’s Support Vector Machine. There’s nothing holding a user back from giving single-letter commands to your favorite programs. For example, it would be possible to give a thumbs-up in meatspace when you want to upvote or covering your ears could mute the audio.
We love keyboard hacks like this mechanical macro keyboard, a minimal and elegant USB Morse key(board), and Brian Benchoff’s open love-letter to mechanical keyboards.
Thank you, [Juan Pablo] for the tip.
I am certain that when I’m old people will think about keyboards the way we think about rotary telephones today.
I kinda doubt it. Keyboard survived unchanged for almost a century, and when you need to input a lot of data – there are no real alternatives.
…Yet. No real alternatives yet.
As he says, is been a century. Some designs are just optimal and will always be around in some form.
In 20 years keyboards will be a thing of the past. Humans will have a USB v 5.0 port in the back of their heads, just plug in and think your text, or plug in a Wifi dongle and go cordless.
Simply an amazing idea to replace those ridiculous on screen keyboards from smart tvs when you dont have a real keyboard around
I could get behind this, I can’t stand those things.
i guess I could program my air mouse n keyboard that Im using now to type this in.
nice idea. I will have to look at the code to see how hard it is to add to my computers.
Nice work.
… looks at phone…
I’m still hoping voice recognition will get there…
lol- can you even imagine the lack of security/privacy in a voice-only interface?
Producers and sellers of treatments for laringitis do approve ;-)
Really nice.
I bought the sensor and tried the code. It works really well :-)