Meta's Tech Demo Turns Any Surface Into a Working Keyboard for Easier Text Entry in Virtual Reality
Tap away on your desk or chair to hit up to 120 words per minute, Meta's founder Mark Zuckerberg claims.
Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, may be looking to add a feature to its virtual reality headsets that turns any surface into a functional keyboard — with founder Mark Zuckerberg claiming achievable typing speeds of over 100 words per minute (WPM.)
"Our Reality Labs research turns any flat surface into a virtual keyboard with touch typing," Zuckerberg posted alongside a demonstration video on his personal Instagram profile, brought to our attention by Upload VR. "We had a race and [chief technical officer Andrew Bosworth] clocked in at almost 120 words per minute. I was just around 100 WPM. Got some practicing to do."
The research appears to be an effort to address one of the biggest problems in professional use of virtual reality: data entry. While it's possible to use controllers and joysticks without having to see what you're doing, a keyboard is a much bigger challenge. Previous attempts to address the issue have included placing tracking beacons on a specially-built keyboard so the VR headset can locate it accurately in space — but Meta's solution does away with the keyboard altogether.
In the video, Bosworth is seen typing on the surface of an empty wooden desk. Switching to the virtual view reveals a projected keyboard, with Bosworth's hands fully represented in avatar form. As the real hands move, so too do the virtual hands — with the system detecting contact with the desk and figuring out which key was pressed.
There are hints of some restrictions to the technology, though, including massive location tag affixed to the desk's surface — but the bigger problem will be that shared by existing laser projection keyboards, designed to provide a full-size keyboard in a pocket-sized package for smartphone and tablet users: typing on a hard surface provides zero tactile feedback and is considerably more tiring than using a real keyboard.
The project is positioned as a research effort, with no word yet on when — or if — the technology would be released for users of Meta's VR hardware. The full video is available in Zuckerberg's Instagram post.
