A $400 Keyboard with NO ACTUAL Keys!

[James]

Buy OrbiTouch Keyboard on Amazon: http://geni.us/320gSN

 

Imagine a keyboard that doesn't have keys- that's the Orbitouch! But how does this weird keyboard work? And who would use it?!

 

 

[themctipers]

I expected it to be a keyboard made out of an aluminium unibody enclosure with a touchscreen that displayed the keys, and you'd use the touch screen as a keyboard.

[kelvinhall05]

Saw it first on TechSmartt.

[JHY]

Way........ inefficient

[Luxanna]

The advantage keyboard has at least made sense (even tho I dislike its review because it looked like a cheap tv ad). 

 

"some keys like p and z [...] all the gestures are equally easy to perform" 
Do you mean equally hard?

[brandishwar]

I can definitely understand the niche this is trying to fill: accessibility. A lot of the accessibility focus has been with accessibility technologies in software. Not much in hardware.

 

So it's nice to see someone actually trying to address that particular issue. For them to say it can be used for gaming, though, is definitely one hell of a stretch. It can't be used with FPS games, but there are likely some games where you can use it without much difficulty -- basically games that don't rely on the keyboard and mouse at the same time. And there are likely other products designed to make gaming easier for those with physical impairments.

 

The $400 price tag is hopefully just merely because this problem doesn't have many companies trying to tackle it. The focus on gesturing to type is quite interesting. And I think as long as they advertise this as something for people who, for whatever reason, aren't able to use a standard QWERTY or Dvorak keyboard, they might be on to something.

 

I can see this being used by experienced programmers with arthritis issues, though many IDE enhancements are with the purpose and effect of allowing you to write more code with fewer keystrokes -- e.g. auto-completion and snippets. This would just play on top of that. And given how much some programmers are willing to spend to get a decent keyboard -- I personally use a Das Keyboard -- this could be interesting. Given the issues with numeric entry, I don't see this as a viable option for data entry. But I can see it for people who do a lot of typing -- writers come to mind.

 

Like any new tech, there's definitely a learning curve here, especially given how everyone gets QWERTY hammered into their heads from an early age. But not everyone can use the standard keyboards, and using a type of gesturing to type is an interesting approach where the only other option seemed to be speech to text.

[ASDZone-Matthew]

The claims this product is useful for people with Autism Is complete BS for a couple of reasons;

One: Autistic people are generally rough with things (which can include throwing the item across a room), which means the Orbitouch would break extremely quickly due to its poor build quality.

Two: The Orbitouch does not have the direct feedback that a touch screen gives, which is why you see so many autistic people with Ipads’.

 

I think the autism angle suggested by the manufacture was done for financial reasons as they is generally more money in the special needs market.

[Zodiark1593]

10 hours ago, PCNoobie said:

Way........ inefficient

Well, it is probably quite efficient for those with a missing hand or two.

 

The autism angle is very overly broad however. I can name a couple off the top of my head that game on the PC, and so would probably not take kindly to using one of these.

[AnonymousGuy]

I feel like I would have to be autistic to think requiring 2 actions to type a letter is a good idea...

 

And wow that thing really wants to jump off the table when you try to use it.

[Bigbootyjudy]

Linus reminds me of a goblin holding his treasure, in the thumbnail

[Zorbeltuss]

I looked it up when it was first mentioned in the WAN show, it seems like they have focused on a bit to specific a need, with this product, sure I want it, but if I'm going to pay $400 I expect at least locale support and the possibility of doing enough special characters live with only using that, the need of someone with a disability is not only writing text.

 

[N.tony]

I don't know why, but I just lost it at this image  Max's facial expressions here are precious! 

[VinLAURiA]

Reading the YouTube comments on this one was dismaying. I've actually already known of a lot of these alternative keyboards that Linus has been showing off recently (including this one) due to an interest in novel and accessibility-focused HIDs, and pretty much all of the disparaging remarks people have made over this video come from not simply the standpoint of normal-functioning people, but often that of power-users or especially those only considering any gaming potential. That's not really the point of these devices.

 

Yes, spending $400 on a device like this is a waste of money when you can already use a normal keyboard just fine, but for people to whom that isn't an option, they need these kinds of alternatives. As someone who went through a few special-needs programs during my school days due to being on the autism spectrum, I consider myself fortunate that I was only moderately impacted in speed and coordination as far as motor skill is concerned; my ability with a pen or pencil may be abysmal, but I can still use any standard computer input method just fine (better than most normal users, in fact). But I was also exposed to kids who were far worse off than I was, and I feel you don't really gain an appreciation for the difficulty a disabled person (physically or mentally) can have with tasks you yourself might take for granted until you see that kind of thing first-hand, and learn how frustrating it can be for your own body to simply not respond to whatever you're trying to make it do. For someone out there who can only make coarse movements, I imagine this kind of thing is a godsend compared to trying to fumble your way through the fine motor control required of a standard keyboard.

[Bjamse]

have you guys thought about the "datahand professional 2" by datahand systems?

THAT would be interesting
Anyway, have seen the video 4 times now and I still love it
Keep it up kids 

[VinLAURiA]

Datahand's a classic; it also comes in a one-handed variant. Another single-hander keyboard is the Frogpad.

 

Also, to reply to someone above, there's a purpose for the "chording" thing: speed. There are other keyboards that use the same concept but with actual keys, where multiple keys are hit simultaneously to type out whole syllables at once. Those aren't disability-focused, though; they're actually incredibly fast for transcribing spoken speech. They're what the people who do the closed captioning for live television broadcasts use, like for sports commentary and news anchors.

 

It's pretty fascinating to read up on all the alternative keyboard types that have popped up over the years.

[keithstar]

you should mod this so the right hand side can be used as a mouse and the other size the wasd etc for gamng