Let’s face it, whether it be on-screen keyboards or actual physical keyboards, the fact remains that unless you’re using some sort of ergonomically designed keyboard, after extended use you will start to feel slightly uncomfortable. Let’s not forget that on-screen keyboards pose yet another problem, especially to those who rely on touch typing (using the feel of the keys to type as opposed to constantly checking to see what keys they’re pressing) which will ultimately end up with unwanted keys being pressed.Christian Sax and Hannes Lau from the University of Technology Sydney believe that they may have come up with a solution, a solution which they have dubbed the LiquidKeyboard and was recently unveiled at the Tech23 conference in Sydney just yesterday.
The concept behind this solution is that whenever the user rests their fingers on the touch screen, it will then attempt to determine the position of the fingers and relative pressure, after which it will then form keys around each individual finger.
For example on typical keyboards, you will notice that your index fingers are meant to rest on the bumps of the “F” and “J” keys (although individual preferences vary), so this concept will take that into consideration, meaning where you place your fingers on the touch screen, assuming you plan to start typing, you’re not just limited to the bottom half of the touch screen to type.
Ultimately this allows the user to type without having to constantly check where their fingers are on the on-screen keyboard. Check out the video below for a demonstration.
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