Sometimes screen views and printouts are not enough because we want to better visualize things by feeling it, looking at it from different angles, even by touching it... That is why we build models/dummies.

A keyboard with elevating keys can save us the difficult task of building dummies.

Assume you want to better visualize quarterly sale figures of your company. With elevating key keyboard you simply assign each quarter to F1, F2, F3, F4 keys and those keys will elevate to represent the data. (such as F1 will elevate 2 cm, F2 3.4 cm, and so on..)

The elevated keys can also be used for other purposes. In a game, some keys can represent number of your lifes or energy(starting at a higher level and dropping each time you lose a life or energy)

Once we have our elevated key keyboard different applications will emerge!

In deluxe models all keys can elevate, in budget models only a few.
-- can1073, Dec 05 2007

Reminds me of Ferrofluid http://www.youtube....watch?v=CJGBy_yygaQ
Although sales figures like this would be unusual [Ling, Dec 09 2007]

for rcarty http://en.wikipedia...sis_(cryptanalysis)
You will be able to tell, given a sufficient length document, which keys will be elevated more than others. [4whom, Dec 10 2007]

there's an angel on your shoulder.
-- po, Dec 05 2007


So let me get this straight, you have problems explaining sales figures one-on-one (this obviouly wouldn't work in front of a group) with a boss who is mostly blind, so they need tiny physical single color representations instead of big colorful 2-D representations? Wow, I guess my job is easier than I thought!

Best of luck.

Or did you want to replace a normal keyboard with some kind of magnetic liquid that is normally shaped as a keyboard and senses movement by changes in the fields, but when your boss leans over your shoulder and asks you a question, you could have the keyboard come to life and magically/magnetically turn the keyboard into a 3-D represetation of your design?
-- MisterQED, Dec 05 2007


Could be fun, but not useful often enough to justify cost.
-- Ford, Dec 06 2007


Po, thanks for correcting the typo in a gentle way.

Ford, yes I don't think it can justify cost but competition sometimes force companies to create all sort of thinks to sell better and Chinese companies produce amazingly so cheap. (a radio control toy helicopter for 15$ would only be a dream 10 years ago but it is now a reality)

MisterQED, thanks god I don't have such a stupid boss either, but anyways the idea is mainly not for presenting to others but playing with it yourself.

Boyspark, thanks for underlining that it will work better with laptops because of fixed point of reference between screen and keyboard. On the other hand it would be more costly to build this feature to a laptop.

The elevated keys can also be used for other purposes. In a game, some keys can represent number of your lifes or energy(starting at a higher level and dropping each time you lose a life or energy)

Once we have our elevated key keyboard different applications will emerge!
-- can1073, Dec 06 2007


In my opinion, 3D generally obfuscates and does not clarify information. None of the uses mentioned benefit from being 3D, like [MisterqQED] says, they just present it in a more complex format, one that will be obscured by hand movement and position, and obscure themselves the computer monitor. In this case it will work worse with laptops.

Bone!
-- mylodon, Dec 08 2007


It is likewise cool to turn your keyboard upside down, and pound it, to discover just how dirty you are.
-- mylodon, Dec 10 2007



random, halfbakery