A new keyboard in VR: Haptic feedback

Haptic feedback and virtual reality can make typing easier, more engaging to learn, and more adaptive to utilize.

Michael Eichenseer
Jul 21, 2017 · 4 min read
Early Leap Motion VR keyboard prototype

With one set of haptic VR gloves we can simulate any desired keyboard feedback.

Typists of all stripes can find feedback that is enjoyable and promotes increased use of the keyboard. Writing and programming will be all the easier to step into. If a user enjoys the act of typing itself, then using that typing to generate code or words comes as second nature.

Keyboards could spring back like bubble wrap, or be as heavy as Grand Piano keys.

We have had mandatory typing classes in public education for decades. Haptic feedback and virtual reality can make the skill of typing not only easier, but more engaging to learn and more adaptive to utilize.

VR users can spend their effots on the task at hand, using VR and haptics to increase flow and focus while typing. Whether its writing a report, recording an event, programming live, or searching through a sea of data, the VR user’s effort is spent on the action itself not typing.

Visual effects can increase the satisfaction of typing and generate flow state.

With virtual reality the visual feedback of typing could be far more than a cursor on a screen. It could be a subtle shift in lighting, a three dimensional effect, or a mixed reality inscription. Write your next email into the side of the mountain outside your window while you’re living on the ISS.

Auditory queues can keep you engaged and generate flow.

The subtle clack of cherry MX brown mechanical keys can be satisfying to write with. Imagine if that sound could be customized and replaced by any sound of a user’s choosing? Noise filtering headphones could suppress other sounds during the act of typing. The act of programming itself could even produce music.

Haptic feedback is the bread and butter of a virtual reality interface.

Adjusting the size, shape, location, and feel of your keyboard would all but end issues of ergonomics in the office. Now your programming interface walks with you.

Already using mobile keyboards like the Twiddler 3? Want to split your desktop QWERTY keyboard in two, syncing each half of the keyboard to the location of your wrists so you can walk and type? Haptic gloves offer this and more.

Customizing the feedback of each key and its physical shape will allow designers to create physical controls specific to their applications. Users could make their keyboards feel as satisfying to type with as leaves are to touch.

Tap — Bluetooth keyboard for mobile

Haptic feedback gloves alongside virtual reality optics and augmented audio leads to an enormous number of applications.

The writer visiting Colorado types up his first draft on a hike through the mountains. A haptic feedback glove on each hand synced to a virtual mixed reality where a keyboard exists. Each hand moves free from the other as separate virtual “half-keyboards” sync to the user’s hand movements.

The businesswoman walking through busy streets needs to send an email but doesn’t have the time to safely pull out her phone. A mixed reality display shows the message she needs to reply to. Two half-keyboards, one for each hand, lets her type up an email mid stride. No reason to take her eyes off of the passing cars.

The engineer programming an application for factory floor operations no longer sits in an office, disconnected. Thanks to a mixed reality display, noise augmenting headphones, and haptic feedback gloves engineers work directly with equipment on the floor. No longer does IT stand for Ivory Tower.

Workers can vocally communicate via augmented audio, avoid hazards with augmented visuals, and make changes to software on the fly with virtual keyboards.

More income for the hardware providers should translate into more capital for hardware improvements. Hardware providers need as many people creating uses for their hardware as possible in order to sell more hardware. It is no wonder why Facebook dropped Oculus’s price. There is far more value in the future if more applications can be made for their hardware now.

If we want VR to succeed, i.e. get cheaper, we need to continue to dream of applications for it. As a writer who enjoys long walks, I can’t wait for a virtual haptic keyboard. Until then, I’ll keep my eyes on the Twiddler 3.

This is post 38 of my 90 day VR experiment. Join me here for a daily dose of virtual reality design, gameplay, speculation, and adventure.

VRdōjō

Immersive Arts Development. In the traditional sense of a dōjō, VRdōjō is a collaborative space in downtown Kansas City built for VR arts, design, development, and fitness.

Michael Eichenseer

Written by

Writing, VR design, and virtual sports.

VRdōjō

VRdōjō

Immersive Arts Development. In the traditional sense of a dōjō, VRdōjō is a collaborative space in downtown Kansas City built for VR arts, design, development, and fitness.

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