Keyboard Launches Letters Into Thin Air When Pressed

I’d like to say this keyboard is a huge hardware discovery and a feat of engineering, buut it’s more likely a fun trick. A computer science researcher from Japan found a way to give his keyboard almost magical features in a simple, effective way #hardwaremagic

Tsubasa Yumura used projection mapping to make the keys he presses instantly dance in the air and reach his computer. Cyberkeyboard, as he called it online, is actually a normal keyboard, but the projector used knows the location of each letter and displays the upward animation when it is pressed.

The entire technique is described in this blog entry.  A projector (placed preferably on a tripod) is connected to the computer and makes the letters pop out of the keyboard forward. Yumura’s idea has made it to the web and you can check it out here.

Pretty neat, right?