Wearable keyboard changes way you type and tap

The Tap Strap, a wearable keyboard that consumers can slide on over their fingers and tap on any surface to produce words, is scheduled to launch by the end of 2016. Tap Systems, Inc.’s keyboard recognizes movements with the help of sensors, relaying a user’s words over Bluetooth to a device. Those concerned about adjusting to the sensation don’t need to worry – a training app is available to instruct new users, and tests prove that most people take no more than an hour to adapt.

The Tap Strap, made out of a flexible “smart-textile,” can be placed on either hand, or consumers may even wear two for quicker two-handed typing. Each finger correlates to a vowel, and finger combinations devise other letters. Using different gestures will insert special characters. With 31 possible finger taps and a promised accuracy of 99 percent, the Tap Strap aims to rid of the problems that typing on devices such as smartwatches cause.

“It’s important because when you have a smartwatch, or iPad or any other device that you need to activate or interact with on the go, right now you need to sit down and have a keyboard, or to touch on a screen,” said Tap Systems co-founder Ran Poliakine in an interview with BloombergTechnology. Poliakine, who founded Tap Systems, Inc. with entrepreneurs David Schick and Sabrina Kemeny, refers to the company’s debut product as something “designed to provide unparalleled freedom and access to our electronic devices anywhere and at any time.”

Compatible with smart TVs, Windows and Mac OS X, and Android and iOS devices, the Tap Strap may also have a future as a music player, with consumers tapping on their knees to emit sound. Other plans for the product include a market for the blind or visually impaired, as Schick says, “This is a transformative technology, where they can be as facile with mobile as a sighted person.”  Now in beta testing, the strap may ultimately launch as a device placed around the wrist rather than on the fingers to work even more efficiently. Its planned release reflects estimates that the global market for wearable tech will surpass $30 billion by 2020. Developers and hardware manufacturers will soon have access to a development kit and reference design to explore and promote the Tap Strap’s multiple uses, as well as create additional applications to use with the product.   

Source: Digital Trends and The Verge