A new one-handed wearable device aims to do away with having to tap your phone, tablet or keyboard whenever you want to type.
That’s the concept behind the Tap Strap, a strip of fabric that fits over your fingers like a glove, with invisible sensors that translate finger gestures into letters and numbers.
It can be charged via a standard micro USB cable. Tap works with any device supporting Bluetooth keyboards. This includes iOS and Android phones and tablets, and Mac and Windows PCs, and most smart TVs. The strap comes in different sizes, large, medium, small.
The technology that makes this work: The Tap Strap has a series of embedded sensors that go to work to monitor mechanical information of hand and fingers. This information is processed by an MCU in the Strap, which decodes the raw data into finger-tap combinations and transmits the resulting characters or commands via a Bluetooth radio.
The technology also offers users who are blind or visually impaired with a way to communicate on mobile devices with the speed and convenience of sighted users.
“Tap has the potential to become the communication mode of the future, providing fast, accurate interfacing in situations where no physical keyboard exists,” David Schick, the creator of Tap, said in a statement. “Tap is more discreet and accurate then and is faster and more precise than gesture-based systems.”
A Tap Development Kit will be available to developers to allow them to use the device’s capabilities on a various applications, including gaming
Tapstrap brings an entirely new dimension to how we can interface with the digital world,” Ran Poliakine, co-founder of Tap said. “Tap’s fundamental technology is applicable not only to language, but also to music, gaming and control. It is a new modality that opens up a world of creative possibilities. We are partnering with creative developers and select OEMs to help us unlock its full potential. Our goal is to create an ecosystem in which our partners utilize Tap to deliver new and exciting experiences for our users.”
The Tap Strap is currently in the last testing phase, and is set to go up for sale in late 2016.
