There are few ubiquitous household items as ugly in form and function as a computer keyboard. They're everywhere. They're an inefficient and archaic visual distraction, barely suited to stamp ink on dead trees, as they were originally designed to do.

Computer components need to be elegant, form well married to specific functionality needs, if computers are to fade into the background of life and thus best support it - and that is nigh impossible with the keyboard hanging out.

We have some very exciting new HCI software, three years in the making. We have written a library of code to enable a new generation of input devices… beautiful, simple and efficient… closer to playing a musical instrument than typing on a typewriter.

We need designs for a piece or two of hardware that shows off how beautiful and/or hidden a computer input device can be when you completely minimize its form…

If you are an industrial designer or a mid level maker or even a just a for the fun of it 2d or 3d CAD nerd, allowing for the device functionality will be a trivial concern, with 90% of your attention paid to the form of the device… and that's what we're looking for… a beautiful replacement for the horrible and outdated keyboard and mouse that shows off the features of the software and blends in to people's lives. This can be in the bath, out skiing, at the office or anywhere there might be reason to control a computer in a form meets functionality beautiful way that intrigues you.

• The designs will be 5-key and/or 10-key.
• The electronics area to allow for will be pretty simple - probably just an HID chip - as tiny as possible - with ports to wire to buttons, etc - a power source, wireless connector (preferably low power bluetooth), and wires to connect the chip to everything it needs to connect to.
• While the designs can be created as completely conceptual, we would prefer to be able to physically prototype them using something like 3d printing, laser cutting or other maker accessible options and electronics components that would also be maker accessible.
• Preferably, the file format will be solidworks compatible.

For now, this is an unpaid gig, with the compensation mainly being in the form of some really sweet portfolio designs, hope for a better HID/HCI tomorrow, and maybe a makey makey type gift for those times when nothing but a banana piano will do. We do have investor meetings lined up and will credit any prototype designs used to show off the software during those, as well.

If we decide to sell the software in various configurations packaged with hardware variations, and everyone feels like a good time was had by all in this trial run, then we can talk about a production partnership. If that were to be a possibility, industrial design related experience or strong enough to heavily research it type interest - sourcing, packaging, etc. - would be a big bonus.

[HR][/HR]Points of clarification:

• The HCI software is definitely going to be released in a few different forms, whether hardware is part of the initial package or not.
• It utilizes a few different generic HID drivers, like those for a keyboard and a mouse. So, any chip with those readily available drivers loaded could be used in construction.
• Unless otherwise discussed, designs utilized in our presentations would be considered free use on both sides, with no need for even an NDA unless the designer would like to delve into the HCI code. So, designs provided for this project could then be manufactured by the designer for use with the software independent of our involvement, as well.

 

Update: As we have had some really promising contacts with some designers now, and feel fairly confident that we can find some good small run manufacturers that will suit, we have decided that we are definitely going to be pursuing the crowdsourced funding option for some variations of the HCI/HID combos. (We think that if this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/740785012/touchfire-the-screen-top-keyboard-for-ipad can get over $200k and other devices that are also not revolutionary can be well funded through this method, options that pare down full control and typing to 5 or 10 key configurations that can fit efficiently and elegantly into the background of life will be able to do so, too. )

This effort will probably begin in earnest after June, since we are focused on investor meetings for the next few months. However, we are researching possibilities for this already and any designs submitted for the meeting prototypes will considered for this, if the designer so wishes.

 

We are presently on the hunt for small run manufacturing options for this project, as per http://www.mechanicaldesignforum.com/showthread.php?2865-Small-run-manufacturer-suggestions

Cheers,
Heather and Joe

 

Addition for clarity:
The devices are intended for one hand use (5 key) or 2 hand use (10 key.)

The 10 key device could just be mirrored copies of one device, or if hand agnostic, could be two of exactly the same 5 key device. In fact, this will probably be better for most scenarios than one device that has 10 keys. So, designing a 10 key need not be much more intensive than designing a 5 key.

However, if the designer wishes to submit one device with 10 keys and has a usability reason for that, we are definitely interested in checking it out. B-D

Thx,
Heather and Joe