Researchers Made An Imaginary Keyboard That Uses AI To Discern What Users Are Trying To Type

Aadhya Khatri - Aug 07, 2019


Researchers Made An Imaginary Keyboard That Uses AI To Discern What Users Are Trying To Type

The imaginary keyboard may maximize the utility of the display on smartphones and tablets, as well as facilitate VR technology

Some researchers at KAIST (short for Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) recently come up an idea of a virtual, AI-powered keyboard that appears in places where you put your hands on and when you want to type.

Research to make better peripheral devices have burnt billions of dollars each year, but we have not had anything worth calling a breakthrough ever since the invention of the current keyboard and mouse. What we have on smartphone and tablets are useful, but there is no replacement for a QWERTY keyboard, which lets you type with all of your fingers.

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What we have on smartphone and tablets are useful, but there is no replacement for a QWERTY keyboard, which lets you type with all of your fingers

Many solutions have been proposed and make it to reality, like swipe-to-type and voice-control, but people usually find themselves making more mistakes than when they use a regular keyboard. This is the reason why Ue-Hwan Kim, Jong-Hwan Kim, and Sahng-Min Yoo decided to change everything at the most fundamental level and create an imaginary keyboard.

The researchers call the concept I-Keyboard, and according to them, this idea can give users the full screen on a handheld device for display while typing. To add to its utility advantage, I-Keyboard does not have a particular shape or pre-defined size of keys. Users may start typing from any angle and position without minding the place and the size of the keys.

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For now, the most challenging thing about the physical keyboard is that users must look from time to time to locate the right keys they want

All users have to do is to start typing anywhere on the touchscreen, and the system will use deep learning to determine what it is that you are typing. The I-Keyboard comes equipped with a DL-based decoding algorithm that can work without a calibration step. The deep neural decoder can work with tap variability and hand drift to turn the touchpoint into the words, and sentences users are trying to type.

You may wonder how the system manages to translate touchpoints into words if users are just tapping their fingers on nothing. For now, the most challenging thing about the physical keyboard is that users must look from time to time to locate the right keys they want. Even the most skillful office workers must do so because over time, the fingers start to drift from the original positions without us knowing about it.

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What users imagine in their head

To solve this problem, instead of making out the words from the exact locations where users tap their fingers on, the system will try to make sense of what you are trying to type and constantly adjust the virtual keyboard to suit what you have in mind.

While I-Keyboard researchers have had some initial success, they still have a lot to do before the invention can make it to reality. For now, the imaginary keyboard has an accuracy rate of 95.8%, at around 45WPM. That is quite a leap from the soft keyboard we are using now.

With improved touch interfaces and development, the researchers are confident that I-Keyboard can someday be entirely imaginary and become a replacement for the physical keyboards.

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The development of VR technology calls for advancements like eye-free typing, which the Korean researchers are currently working on

The development of VR technology calls for advancements like eye-free typing, which the Korean researchers are currently working on. UX design may change forever if we can, one day, type anywhere on the touchscreen and have the full display for the content.

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