From: Cliff Lasser Subject: description of DataHand ---------------------------------------------------------------- The DataHand has 2 units, one for each hand, and they are supposed to be spread apart so that they are approximately lined up with ones shoulders. The individual units are molded boxes that are allowed to freely rotate on top of a base. The user's hands rest on molded foam and are not supposed to move during typing. The fingers extend past the foam to rest on a series of switches. Although each finger rests on a single switch (key), there are several other switches around each finger. The layout of these switches is the same for all fingers except for the thumbs. Here is what the layout looks like for all the non-thumb fingers: The key under a finger is somewhat like a regular keyboard key except is is circular, not square. There are four other keys around the finger. They are arranged in a circular manner, with keys to the left, right, and above and below. The shape of these keys resembles fake women's nails. The finger moves approximately 2 millimeters to reach these keys, and another millimeter to activate them. The key under the finger has a travel of about 1 millimeter. The thumb unit has a total of 4 switches. There is one under the thumb, one on the inside of the thumb, and 2 on the outside. It is important to note that the switches themselves are of an interesting design. They are all utilize optical switches and small magnets to provide the spring like forces. I particularly like the feel of these switches - they not only have the right amount of initial force to prevent accidental key strikes, but also very little force and travel once there is a intentional key strike. The key assignment to the switches is very much like on a regular qwerty keyboard, except for the thumb. The switches under, above, and below each finger correspond to the home row, the row above and the row below the home row on a regular keyboard. The designers of the DataHand did have to change the locations of a few keys since there are not enough switches with just 3 per finger (above, under, and below) to do everything on the typewriter. They moved the keys that are between the index fingers on a regular keyboard to some of the right and left switches on the DataHand. The numbers, punctuation, and special function keys are accessed with the help of the thumb unit, which I will describe next. The thumb units provide the following keys: Space, backspace, return, tab, shift, control, alt, and something called "NAP mode". It is very easy to hit the various shift keys and keys on the other fingers, and again the users hands do not move during any typing. "NAP mode" stands for Numbers and Punctuation mode. When it is depressed, the assignment of the non-thumb keys changes so that they correspond to the numbers row on the top of a normal keyboard. When NAP and shift are depressed simultaneously, the non-thumb keys turn into the special function keys (F1 to F12). Hitting the NAP and shift keys a bit harder than usual locks them. The design principle appears to be simple, though you should probably talk to the designers themselves. As far I can tell it is the following: Design a keyboard that takes into account the shape of the human hand and minimize the motions that the fingers make to hit the keys. Finally, try to make the key assignments similar to existing keyboards so that people will be able to quickly learn how to use the DataHand. The result is that typing is far less stressful on one hands. I hope this description is not too lengthy and that it will not scare people away. The design may sound fairly radical, but is precisely what is needed. Despite all these changes, the parallels between the DataHand and regular keyboards are significant, and touchtypists should find learning to use a DataHand fairly easy since the relative motions are approximately the same as what they already know.