This AI-Enabled Analog Mechanical Keyboard Can Tell How Far You’re Pushing a Key

If you care about key feel at all, then you’re almost certainly using a mechanical keyboard already. They provide a much more satisfying tactile feel, and the feedback from the click of each key helps you type faster and more accurately. Basic mechanical keyboards are affordable and everyone deserves to use one. But there is still room for improvement, which is exactly what the innovative Keystone AI-enabled analog mechanical keyboard is doing.

The Keystone keyboard recently launched on Kickstarter, and has already far exceeded its funding goal. At first glance, it looks like any other high-quality mechanical keyboard with RGB LED backlighting. But it’s the technology inside that makes it special. Bargain bin membrane keyboards detect key presses when contacts on a flexible sheet are pushed against a PCB. They’re cheap to manufacture, but feel mushy. Mechanical keyboards use actual switches, which make a distinct clicking noise and have a far better tactile feel. The Keystone keyboard takes that two steps further with analog keys and an Adaptive Typing AI.

Instead of using traditional key switches, the Keystone uses magnetic Hall effect sensors. That means it can detect how far down you’re pushing a key. It’s perfect for gaming, because the keys can respond like a gamepad’s trigger to variable pressure. It also works well in creative applications, such as music production or digital illustration, because you can use variable pressure to modify your tools. For typing, the Adaptive Typing AI can learn how you press individual keys and compensate for that. If you push harder with your index finger, it will learn to adapt to that. You can even use a light press for lowercase letters and a hard press for capital letters.

That, along with all of the Keystone keyboard’s other features, can be configured in the included cross-platform HID-IO software. You can use it to setup different behaviors based on the software you’re using, or simply modify the backlighting colors. Importantly, all of the key caps are Cherry MX-style, so you can swap in new key caps to suit your style. Both 87-key and 108-key version are available.

If you want a Keystone keyboard, the Kickstarter campaign is running until August 15th. Early birds can get the 87-key version for just $99. Rewards are expected to be delivered in February 2020.