Powermat Creator Wants to Kill the Keyboard

It’s difficult to imagine using a computer in any form without having a keyboard for input.

The familiarity of the key layout and an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude has kept the QWERTY keyboard a rarely-deviated-from standard, but a new wearable device could change that.

Tap is a soft foam “knuckle duster” that communicates with your computer or smart-device via Bluetooth, translating 31 different finger taps into letters and numbers. With each tap, the device sends a character or command based on which fingers touched the surface—any surface.

Ran Poliakine, Tap Systems’ co-founder, has stated that the device has an accuracy of 99 percent. If so, Tap could eliminate the need to carry a keyboard and offer an alternative to voice-activated options like Apple’s Siri, or gesture based technologies still in development.

Learning to Tap

There are numerous hurdles to face when launching a new technology, and one of the biggest is changing the status quo. With a new input method, users face the risk of discomfort and the disruption of their everyday interactions with their own devices. The easier this transition is, the faster it will be accepted by consumers.

The Tap Strap. (Image courtesy of Tap Systems, Inc.)

According to Poliakine, the basics of using Tap can be taught in under an hour, using an application developed to work like a game. While Poliakine says it’s easy enough for a child to learn, there is still the difficulty of training users beyond early adopters and developers if the goal is making Tap as intuitive as traditional keyboard typing.

From Powermat to Tap

Poliakine is not new to the uphill battle of bringing new technologies to market. He is the founder of Powermat, a wireless charging solution for battery-operated handheld devices.

While the Powermat and wireless charging in general have been adopted by giants like Chevrolet, Samsung and Starbucks, it has yet to become mainstream. Poliakine attributes this to slow adoption and a still growing market.

“Lesson number one is: go after a very large market that is going to be even bigger. When we started Powermat it was clear that the market will come but was not there,” Poliakine told Bloomberg. “Wireless charging was like a magic kind of thing, a concept.”

Tap enables users to type on any surface. (Image courtesy of Tap Systems, Inc.)

He doesn’t see this issue with Tap though. “With Tap the need is absolutely there, and is going to be greater and greater, from wearable devices all the way to virtual reality and augmented reality, all of those devices are in urgent need for a sophisticated input method.”

Poliakine developed Tap with David Schick and Sabrina Kement, a former NASA engineer and co-inventor of image sensor technology used in mobile phones.

There are plans to open the product up to public testing for six months before going to market, allowing for development of the platform and integration with other technologies. “The underlying assumption is we need to create a community,” says Schick. “We believe this technology can become a core language or protocol.”

While it may well be an uphill battle to replace the keyboard in many of its applications, development of new input methods will be essential in allowing the next generation of AR and VR to break the molds that are keeping them from being truly revolutionary. Tap should reach consumers by the end of 2016.

Check out the Tap website for more information or to contact the company about their developer kit.