Augmented reality device turns your arm into a keyboard

<img alt="Arkey0897" height="359" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzExLzA3Lzg5L2Fya2V5MDg5Ny43MTk4Ny5qcGcKcAl0aHVtYgk5NTB4NTM0IwplCWpwZw/9dfda2fe/a54/arkey0897.jpg" width="640" /><br /> <br /> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Japanese electronics maker NEC has unveiled a unique input mechanism that allows you to type on your arm using augmented reality.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> The system is called the ARmKeypad and it combines a set of glasses to visualize the virtual keyboard and a smartwatch to detect how fast you type.</div> <div class="see-also" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; text-transform: uppercase;"> <div class="inline-ad-seealso" style="margin: 0px 18.75px 0px auto; max-width: 625px;"> </div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Designed as a means to give workers a "hands-free" way of working while maintaining the ability to input text into a database, the company describes <a href="http://jpn.nec.com/press/201511/20151105_04.html" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the ArmKeypad</a> as better than other next-gen input methods such as voice interfaces, which are difficult to operate in noisy environments.<br /></div> <div class="popout" style="margin-left: -125px; max-width: 120%;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="422" id="managed-yt-1" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MVDWG33YTsg?enablejsapi=1&" style="height: 422px; width: 750px;" width="750"></iframe></div> <br /> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> In the video of the system at work (above), <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/11/06/nec-brings-augmented-reality-keyboard-to-users-forearm/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">obtained by</a> the <em>Wall Street Journal</em>, the smartwatch device is also shown displaying an augmented reality component, hovering above its real-world screen, working in tandem with the keyboard.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> NEC thinks the innovation could be used in a wide range of working environments including healthcare, manufacturing, document management and even security.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> The system was shown off in the run-up to the company's <a href="http://www.nec.com/en/event/uf-iexpo/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">C&C User Forum and iExpo 2015</a>being held in Tokyo next week.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> No details regarding the software or hardware aspects of how the system works have been revealed. However, NEC claims that it will release a commercial version (price to be determined) of the system sometime in 2016.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4545450210571px; line-height: 20.4545440673828px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> <em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em></div>

Augmented reality device turns your arm into a keyboard

Japanese electronics maker NEC has unveiled a unique input mechanism that allows you to type on your arm using augmented reality. The s...

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