Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

The problem is one of digital vs analogue, and ballistic vs servo. On a keyboard, you either press or do not press a key, and assuming that your finger is aimed somewhere in the right box, you need no visual feedback to see where it is and which thing you're touching. You also get the tactile feedback of "yes I hit the key", "I hit the key but it was at the edge, better recalibrate", etc.

So while there are a basically continuous range of positions you can put your fingers into (and with fifty or so degrees of freedom), the differences between many similar positions are subtle and require feedback for you to see which of them you're in---looping in your visual system and slowing down the interaction considerably. Which is what you want for certain sorts of continuous-ish interactions, and not at all what you want for certain sorts of digital-ish interactions.

All of which is to say, this sounds suuuuuper cool, but it's not going to replace the keyboard.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2025 batch! Applications are open till May 13

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: