See video before reading
Inspiration
It was honestly a last-minute idea - we had originally planned a much more complicated hack, but after realizing we wouldn't be able to do that, we looked around us and got inspirations from the keyboards we say.
What it does
We essentially built two hacks - one which takes input from five keys and converts that into characters, and one which clicks those five keys depending on the input sent.
How we built it
5keys (the script that takes the 5 keys and converts them to characters) was made in Python, while Mechanikeys (the useless bit), was made with Arduino and C.
Challenges we ran into
To be honest, everything went fairly smoothly. However, when we started the project, we were both in panic mode, and, in that panic, weren't able to figure out how to map the keys in 5keys. We also had some difficulty mounting the servos on the laptop.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
When we got it to type out "hello" for the first time, we were so proud at that moment.
What we learned
- How to better use Python (I am a beginner)
- Asynch languages aren't good for this kind of stuff (we originally tried doing this in JavaScript)
- We both improved in C
What's next for Mechanikeys (+ 5keys)
Mechanikeys, being the useless gimmick that it is, will probably end development here at MasseyHacks - however, 5keys, which can actually be used in real world contexts, will continue to be developed, and we will continue to explore alternatives to the 300 year-old+ keyboard.
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