I've been poking around some of the "Small Business Innovation
Research Program (SBIR)" sites [1], checking out what Uncle Sugar
might do for the cause of wearable keyboards.

The SBIR cuts across the whole executive branch; just about every
federal agency has to divert a percentage of their annual budgets to
research projects on things within their areas and the usual big
defense contractors are not eligible. Every year the agencies publish
laundry lists of RFPs (requests for proposals). It looks like most
anyone can knock together a proposal --- there are clear instructions
and even nifty tutorials.

Now, you'd expect to find interest in wearable keyboards at the
Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Defense and a
bunch of others --- e.g., NASA. I've always thought the Army should be
pursuing them, maybe a little harder than they are.

But maybe they're just taking a road less traveled. In fiscal year
2004, the army funded solicitation A04-216, Computer Input Devices and
Embedded Sensors in Future Warrior Handwear (Gloves) [2]. I think the
project is ongoing and looking for product in 2007.

What the army wanted was a way you can enter data at the same time
you're holding your weapon. So they're thinking about a glove that's
tough enough to replace the gloves soldiers wear now, but is wired
with switches, finger bend sensors, pressure sensors and whatever else
they can get into or on it, to act as a data entry device.

Since I am of the opinion it's very hard to type with fingers that are
gripping something, I don't expect the glove idea to work out very
well, at least not while holding rifles, even if you're not so much
typing as just picking through menus. Better to whisper into a
microphone, I would guess. Or take your glove hand off the weapon and
gesture in the air.

Anyway, I'm going to poke around some more.


1 http://www.sba.gov/sbir/indexprograms2.html
2 http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir/solicitations/sbir043/army043.htm