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Wood Grained Keyboard Offers Ultimate Tactile Satisfaction

By - Source: Dvice

And you thought mechanical keyboards were fun to type on...

Regardless of whether you spend a lot of time typing on a keyboard or not, tactile response should always be a major selling point when it comes to keyboards. A number of mechanical keyboards offer an extremely satisfying tactile feel, but designer Michael Roopenian had something a little more unique in mind.
While designing his Engrain keyboard, he had two major goals in mind. He wanted to make full use of the users' sense of touch in order to maximize key recognition, and he wanted to attune the keyboard to innate human sensitivities. After lots of research and prototypes, Roopenian came up with the final design, a wood grained keyboard with natural textures and ridges that matched patterns of use.

In addition to being visually stimulating, the Engrain prototype offers a tactile connection that is unparalleled to any keyboard currently on the market. It's just a prototype project at the moment, but we definitely wouldn't be opposed to seeing something like this land on Kickstarter. Until then, head on over to Roopenian's webpage to ogle some more and check out other designs.

 

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There are 36 Comments. B
Top Comments
  • 13 Ð
    lashabane , August 27, 2012 9:08 PM
    Apple lawsuit in 3....2.....1......
  • 10 Ð
    vertigo_2000 , August 27, 2012 8:58 PM
    Definitely a prototype. It appears all he did was glue his wooden keys on top of the existing keys.
Other Comments
  • 5 Ð
    drwho1 , August 27, 2012 8:30 PM
    Quote:
    Roopenian came up with the final design, a wood grained keyboard with natural textures and ridges that matched patterns of use.


    ridges would be very uncomfortable to type on.
  • 5 Ð
    Ragnar-Kon , August 27, 2012 8:31 PM
    So apparently... he website doesn't render correctly in Chrome. But anyway...

    I guess the plan is to make the severity of the ridges inversely proportional to the usage of the key, because that somehow helps the user system input relationship.

    If so, I can't help but notice that there are ridges on the WSAD keys... guess the keyboard was not made for me.
  • -9 Ð
    Ragnar-Kon , August 27, 2012 8:32 PM
    Awesome double-post brought to you in part by Android phone. Android. The proven provider when you want to boast about your double-post. ®
  • -3 Ð
    drwho1 , August 27, 2012 8:33 PM
    Quote:
    Roopenian came up with the final design, a wood grained keyboard with natural textures and ridges that matched patterns of use.


    ridges would be very uncomfortable
  • 1 Ð
    RickTacular , August 27, 2012 8:42 PM
    Dude just glued wood to an apple keyboard. Can you imagine how quickly that would get old? Never mind if you get a splinter...
  • 3 Ð
    classzero , August 27, 2012 8:42 PM
    I would be interested, very tired of this plastic world we are in.
  • -5 Ð
    sixdegree , August 27, 2012 8:44 PM
    This wood keyboard goes well with my fermi card.
  • -1 Ð
    classzero , August 27, 2012 8:45 PM
    If there is a double post I apologize. Toms still shows 0 posts
  • -6 Ð
    sixdegree , August 27, 2012 8:46 PM
    This wood keyboard goes well with my Fermi card.
  • -1 Ð
    tolham , August 27, 2012 8:50 PM
    i'll be keeping my eye on this.
  • 0 Ð
    monkeysweat , August 27, 2012 8:56 PM
    god damn just got a sliver!

    but really, looks like i would have blisters trying to use the damn thing,, tryin to type 120 isn't easy to do trippin on ridges
  • 10 Ð
    vertigo_2000 , August 27, 2012 8:58 PM
    Definitely a prototype. It appears all he did was glue his wooden keys on top of the existing keys.
  • 8 Ð
    marciocattini , August 27, 2012 9:04 PM
    Get mac keyboard stick wooden pieces onto it... call myself a designer!
  • 13 Ð
    lashabane , August 27, 2012 9:08 PM
    Apple lawsuit in 3....2.....1......
  • -2 Ð
    marciocattini , August 27, 2012 9:08 PM
    Get mac keyboard stick wooden pieces onto it... call myself a designer!
  • 0 Ð
    amk09 , August 27, 2012 9:19 PM
    I'm usually not a fan of the simple apple-like keyboards, but this is relevant to my interests. Wood grain is always appealing.
  • 6 Ð
    outlw6669 , August 27, 2012 9:31 PM
    Ultimate Tactile Sanctification.... right....

    Slapping textured keycaps on an Apple keyboard in no way makes this a great tactile keyboard.
    Make a version based on Cherry Blue switches and I might be willing to take a look.
  • -2 Ð
    maqsabre , August 27, 2012 9:32 PM
    some other material may give a better tactical feedback than wood,
    perhaps rubber?
    just my opinion
  • -2 Ð
    biggestinsect , August 27, 2012 9:58 PM
    I've been working on a Sponge Bob Microsoft Sidewinder ergonomic prototype for some time. Having problems printing the key characters on the sponges. This guy beat me to the punch.
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