Samsung’s experimental concept lets you type things out with an invisible keyboard

Ever drummed your fingers on the table in a sarcastic (or otherwise) gesture that you’re typing something? Samsung has an experimental new tech that’ll let you do that for real. Yeah, welcome to 2020. 

The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is, for the most part, an affair for tech companies big and small to flex the latest developments in their R&D pipeline. Which is why there’re things like an Alexa-integrated showerhead, a robot that retrieves toilet paper, and, er, Kamasutra beds. Pretty typical for CES, actually. 

What Samsung has in the works is SelfieType, a program that uses AI and your phone’s front-facing camera to track your hands as you type on a flat surface in front of the device. It won’t necessarily be produced for real — SelfieType is being incubated under Samsung’s experimental C-Lab program — so don’t expect to be typing out long WhatsApp messages on invisible keyboards anytime soon. 

What they do have is a video presentation that shows how it’ll work (if it ever does come to fruition). 

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRFvUYQ_SZ0[/embed]

A similar-but-not-really tech that’s already available is a projection keyboard — projectors that beam laser-lit virtual keyboards onto a surface. As reviews have shown, those things aren’t as practical as initially believed. Plus, what if there aren’t flat surfaces around? 

But maybe Samsung can find a way to make the tech work effectively so we can finally type out passive-aggressive emails with angry taps on tables. 

ilyas@asiaone.com