Wearable keyboards have been around for a long time. Many people have created a DIY version, and the number of patents from the 80's and 90's on this topic is huge. To some extent, they succesfully shifted computer input from the desk to the hands.
Thad Starner & Greg Priest-Dorman are major pioneers of wearable computing. As early members of the Google Glass team, Thad and Greg worked on consumer wearables that could be part worn in daily life.
They also practice what they preach; both men have been wearing computers daily since the early 1990s.
In the following snippet, Thad shows his wearable chording keyboard: a strapped-on Twiddler.
Then, Greg shows his homemade wearable keyboard. Greg compares his wearable keyboard with the Twiddler as "playing the piano versus playing the mandoline". He just "wanted something that maintained his hand in a very open position".
Not just for pioneers:
Typeware aims to make wearable computer input the next for everyone that needs to interact with their computer hour after hour.
Typeware aims for an off-the-shelf solution with next-level ergonomics., that accesses the full keyboard and not just the alphabet. To make it accessible to a large group of people, it should be globally available and stay affordable.
With the accelerometer/gyroscope integrated in many aspects of the device, our device can compete with a classic keyboard and mouse on performance. The benchmark on performance can be WPM, but the real benchmark task will be alternating typing and mousing to edit computer input. Here, Typeware will show real distinction. The next-level ergonomics, keyboard-and-mouse integration and wearability will make prolonged computer use (real typing, mousing and alternating) finally ergonomically justified ánd highly comfortably.