StenoKeyboards' Polyglot Flips Between Being a Traditional Keyboard and a 200+ WPM Steno Board

High-speed input device specialist StenoKeyboards has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a two-in-one gadget designed to ease people into the concept of stenography: the Polyglot Keyboard, swappable between standard QWERTY and stenographic typing in an instant.

"We wanted to type fast. We can reach 100 wpm through the QWERTY layout, but it would fatigue our hands. One day, we found something called 'stenography.' It blew our minds," Byungjoo "Peter" Park explains of his company's origins. "But a professional stenography machine costs over $5,000. What could be the solution? After some research, we found Plover, the free and open-source stenography software that lets you use steno on your computer. All we needed now was an excellent steno keyboard to go with Plover."

Stenography, technically, refers to writing in any one of a number of symbolic shorthand alphabets, but today is most often seen in the specialized hardware of a court reporter, in which a limited number of keys are used to provide accurate typing at the speed of speech — providing, of course, you've had enough practice at the skill.

StenoKeyboard's first product was the Uni, a mechanical stenography keyboard for modern computers. Its successor, the Polyglot, aims to solve the biggest problem: while you're learning stenography, you needed to keep switching between the Uni and a traditional keyboard. The Polyglot, by contrast, is an all-in-one design — providing, the company hopes, the best of both worlds.

"The polyglot has two modes: QWERTY mode and Steno mode," Park explains. "Easily switch back and forth between the two modes by pressing the toggle key in the bottom left corner. We do not guarantee that you will type at over 200 wpm because that requires practice. But if you practice and persist you can achieve your normal typing speed or even more. Stenography is known to have a steep learning curve, but people who put in enough practice eventually reach fast speeds."

The keyboard itself features 42 keys using Gateron Clear mechanical switches and OEM R3 profile keycaps. An RP2040 microcontroller runs the a version of the open-source QMK firmware, and includes 16MB of flash storage on the PCB. A USB Type-C connection, meanwhile, powers the keyboard and connects it to a host PC where it works with the open-source Plover stenography software.

The Polyglot Keyboard crowdfunding campaign is now live on Kickstarter, with hardware priced at $110. Delivery is expected to take place in March 2023, the company has confirmed.