Have you ever typed text directly on your desk instead of using your keyboard? And on the wall?
Scientists (not British scientists, but American ones) have created a sensor system that can turn any surface into a keyboard. This is how it works.
The TypeAnywhere system (translated from English: “Type Anywhere”) is like interconnected rings that fit all fingers.
TypeAnywhere is a QUERTY-based input system that uses wearable sensors on two hands that detect finger actions on any surface, a decoder that converts a sequence of touches into text, and a text editing interface.
Research results
The average word count per minute (WPM), character error rate (CER), and standard deviation (SD) of all TypeAnywhere study participants. Performance with a mechanical desktop QWERTY keyboard and when typing on your knees is also shown.
The test used 1,500 phrases: 1,000 for desktop mode, 300 for desktop keyboard, and 200 for lap typing.
The Tap Strap system was used as a printing device and a server written in Python was created to process HTTP communication between the web interface, hardware, and decoder.
The average typing speed of participants on day one was 41.6 words per minute, which is comparable to the speed of typing on a mobile phone. The test subjects typed faster with each day of practice, and this trend continued towards the end of the study. Compared to a regular desktop QWERTY keyboard (87.8 words per minute), participants achieved 70.6 words per minute with TypeAnywhere on the fifth day of the trial.
The results show that people can quickly learn how to fully use the TypeAnywhere system.
Conclusion
You print text on any surface, and sensors in TypeAnywhere's “rings” decode it. The generated text is displayed on the connected device. There are special movements for moving a line, highlighting or deleting words. With this system, you don't need to carry your favorite keyboard or get used to an office keyboard where half of the keys fall and the other half don't work at all. Literally write anywhere, even on your knee!
Yes, it takes practice, but after five sessions — 2.5 hours of training, the subjects who had never encountered the system before typed an average of 70 words per minute! And TypeAnywhere errors occurred no more than 1.6% of the time.
And of course, you'll have to learn how to type blindly. But this skill will come in handy in any case. But with the ability to type text wherever you want, you can feel like a superhuman, without exaggeration!
