This Split Ergonomic Mechanical Keyboard Features a Trackball Mouse

Trackball mice are better than conventional mice. Yeah, I said it. They may take some getting used to, but they can offer greater precision and, more importantly, reduce repetitive stress injury (RSI) risk. Conventional mice carry a high RSI risk, because they force you to use your entire forearm for almost constant small movement. A trackball, on the other hand, lets you keep your arm in a resting position and while only moving a finger or thumb. This split ergonomic mechanical keyboard designed by ZiTe doubles the ergonomic appeal by integrating a trackball mouse.

Like a trackball mouse, an ergonomic keyboard improves comfort and lowers RSI risk by reducing the amount of movement necessary and allowing the user to rest their arms and hands in a natural position. One popular way to achieve that is with a split layout, where the keyboard is divided into two halves that the user can position in whatever way is most comfortable for them. Mechanical key switches further enhance comfort, can improve typing speed and accuracy, and may also help combat RSI as they reduce the tendency for typists to exert excessive force on each key. The ErgoSNM keyboard combines all of these factors for ultimate comfort.

The ErgoSNM keyboard has a unique layout with a total of 64 keys. The left half of the keyboard has 35 keys: 29 for the four fingers and six for the thumb. The right half has 29 keys plus the trackball. Instead of an orderly grid, ZiTe arranged the keys for maximum comfort in a column-staggered layout.

The custom PCB uses a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and supports Cherry MX-style key switches in hot-swap sockets. A user-configurable LED can indicate status or be used for another function. The two halves of the keyboard can communicate either through a standard TRRS audio cable or a USB-C cable. The RP2040 detects trackball movement with a PMW3360DM-T2QU optical mouse sensor. It runs QMK firmware and works with Vial software for editing the key map and configuring the keyboard. All of that hardware fits into a 3D-printable enclosure that tilts the keyboard to a comfortable angle.

If you want an ErgoSNM keyboard, then you can head over to the GitHub page to download all of the open source files necessary to build your own.