Keyboard Builders' Digest / Tips & Tricks
How the Glove80 keyboard was created
How the Glove80 ergonomic keyboard was created through data-driven philosophy, modular test rigs, parametric CAD and 500+ A/B testing experiments.
Published January 30, 2022
We developed the Glove80 ergonomic keyboard to help our own repetitive strain injuries. Though often not talked about, RSI can be a serious problem and I have had many talented colleagues who suffer from RSI. It is sad that some cases were even career limiting.
A group of Kiwi friends with RSI decided to tackle this silent problem to make the most comfortable keyboard for ourselves. We built more than 500 keyboard prototypes and did many hundreds of ergonomic A/B testing experiments in our quest to create the “perfect” ergonomic keyboard that works for a wide range of hand sizes and shapes.
Glove80 is the end-result of all these A/B testing experiments. Here is a video showing how relaxed typing on Glove80 can be. During the process of developing Glove80 we also found that it is beneficial for everyone's typing and not just those with RSI. Becoming proficient on Glove80 can improve accuracy and speed as well as reducing general muscle tension when typing.
To make it practical to do this level of ergonomic testing, we had to bring a few ideas from the software engineering world.
First is the data-backed philosophy. We come from the background of software engineering, where it is now standard practice to trust real data and not gut-feelings. A/B testing provides valuable comparative information. Our muscle memory is short. We can't tell the difference between two ergonomics setups if we wait for a few hours. However our hands can tell the most minute difference if we quickly switch between two. Even 0.2mm or 1 degree plane change. Perfect for A/B testing.
Second is the architecture. It takes more than 3 days just to 3D-print a full keyboard model. That is not going to scale. A hundred models are going to take a year at least, never mind the actual ergonomics testing time, analysis and redesign.
So how did we do it? A good pluggable software architecture allows a part of the system to change without affecting the rest. We take this insight and apply it to the way we build the functional and non functional ergonomic test rigs. Instead of taking days to try a new variation, we could easily try 10 and way more in a day. The best part is we could keep the flow of thoughts and creativity going.
Thirdly with our software development background, we design our keyboard CAD models to be parametric driven, i.e. the keyboard CAD models are defined as mathematical formulas and equations. Simply by changing a "knob", we can rapidly generate a series of keyboard designs with subtle differences to optimize a design parameter. The parametric driven approach works hand-in-hand with A/B testing, and is only practical with a modular test rig.
In this photo is the simplest non-functional ergonomic test rig we have. It is designed for the optimization of one particular factor of the thumb block. In the photo are also a series of thumb blocks that are parametrically generated.
In the next photo is a much more complex ergonomic test rig. It has many replaceable blocks, and allows each and every key column to be adjusted independently. It is fully functional as a working keyboard to allow for testing of ergonomics with real-life typing.
We believe our creation Glove80 is uniquely ergonomic, and it would help many of our colleagues in the software/I.T. industry. We need your help to spread the word.
For a detail description of the Glove80 ergonomics design, please check out The Ergonomic Design of Glove80 Split Contoured Keyboard.
If you are interested to know more about Glove80, our website is at moergo.com. The Glove80 Kickstarter campaign started on 25 January 2022.
Thank you and my best wishes to your good health.
Published on Sun 30th Jan 2022. Featured in KBD #63 (source).
Related
Ripping the wires out of relics
Krikun98 designs 44-key wireless splits with weird switches collectors would either tear him apart for or would be very intrigued by.
Veyboard: syllable chording
When you think you've already seen everything, mrmrabcabc introduces Veyboard, a syllable chording keyboard.
Another steno one
A custom keyboard for stenography by silly_world.
Ki board
Another wooden board, this time with a surprising layout: groyer418's Ki board.
Cantaloupe V2.0
The Cantaloupe V2.0 is a reversible open-source ergo split keyboard by u/BucketInABucket with on-board ARM processor.