A prototype mechanical keyboard that recognises hand gestures performed on or immediately above the keys has been developed.
The Type-Hover-Swipe keyboard, developed by a team at Microsoft Research, features infrared proximity sensors embedded in a printed circuit board.
Each sensor node peeks out from between the regular key caps, tracking the movement of the user's hands as they touch the keyboard or hover above it.
The sensors can detect rapid movement, thus allowing the keyboard's machine learning algorithm to recognise a number of both static and dynamic "motion signatures", 'Gizmag' reported.
These include swiping up, down, left and right; changing applications by hovering the hand in place; pinching to zoom; pointing for index up and down; and even a steering wheel gesture that allows users to control an onscreen car in a racing game.
