How can I press keyboard buttons with my toes?
December 23, 2018 11:18 AM Subscribe
I am working on a transcription-related project where I cannot plug in a foot controller. Can you help me figure out which community of maker-types I should approach with my how-to-make-a-pneumatic-button-pusher question? Or maybe you could just be that community for me, for a sec?
In twenty years in the language biz, I have had to do a bunch of different projects that had a transcription component of some kind. Every time, I rigged up some of my musical kit as a foot-controller. E.g.when I had to transcribe rapid speech, but have to whack the F11 key when the record is incomplete, I set up a rig where MIDI foot pedals -> MIDI to USB dongle -> app that turns MIDI notes into keycodes. That way, my fingers could stay on the home row and I would never need to grope around for the F11 key, because I'd remapped that to a button on the floor.
This time, I am working for a firm that has a Big Company as a client, and said Big Company requires us to work onsite and observe some pretty normal corporate information-hygiene practices. (Like "no cell phone usage in the lab.") The rule that's killing my joints and ligaments is that, in order to prevent corporate espionage, they won't let us plug any USB thing into the computers that they didn't supply themselves. So, bringing my hacked-up foot-treadle rig is completely forbidden. Likewise, a commercial USB foot controller is right out. Our employers won't supply any special ergonomic kit at all, beyond the mouse-pad with the gel wrist-rest.
So, my brain is dreaming up mechanical solutions to my client's client's requirements. Here is where I am stuck. I am no hardware hacker at all. I have a napkin-sketch involving surgical tubing, binder clips, turkey basters, and something like one of these DIY pneumatic cylinders. However, while the provided YouTube video does describe something like what I'm trying to do, I would need a single-action spring-return version of that YouTube hack, and I have no idea whatsoever how to go about modifying what looks like a double-action cylinder. Just put a spring inside? I dunno. I am not a maker; I do okay with duck tape and zipties, but most of my clever solutions involve scripting languages. I watched a lot of videos of dudes making really nice linear actuators at home, but I don't have a, what you call it, a lathe? A metal-cutty-thingy. That in itself should give you an idea of my general manufacturing acumen.
There are lots of kinds of questions that I would think first "try an AskMe!" But little DIY-robotics questions aren't one of those kinds of questions. Am I wrong about you, AskMe? Some kinds of answers I would very much like to see are:
1) Links to other communities that are full of clever, helpful maker-types who will make useful suggestions to me, whether or not their suggestions are related to the solution I described above
2) Advice from MeFites who are already DIY-pneumatics-hackers, or people-who-make-real-stuff of some kind, who know where I'm headed with this and can point out some potential pitfalls or solutions.
3) Suggestions for mechanical keyboard-foot-pedal thingies that are not pneumatic in nature. Brake cables from my box of bike repair stuff? Cheap would be good. Open to pretty much anything.
4) Anything else? Surprise me! The only things I don't want to hear about involve talking to management, looking for new jobs, asking for reasonable accommodation, and so on. Been there already, and while they were helpful, and gave us mousepads with gel-lozenges and chairs with arms and stuff, they didn't just go out and buy us transcriptionist's foot-treadles.
In twenty years in the language biz, I have had to do a bunch of different projects that had a transcription component of some kind. Every time, I rigged up some of my musical kit as a foot-controller. E.g.when I had to transcribe rapid speech, but have to whack the F11 key when the record is incomplete, I set up a rig where MIDI foot pedals -> MIDI to USB dongle -> app that turns MIDI notes into keycodes. That way, my fingers could stay on the home row and I would never need to grope around for the F11 key, because I'd remapped that to a button on the floor.
This time, I am working for a firm that has a Big Company as a client, and said Big Company requires us to work onsite and observe some pretty normal corporate information-hygiene practices. (Like "no cell phone usage in the lab.") The rule that's killing my joints and ligaments is that, in order to prevent corporate espionage, they won't let us plug any USB thing into the computers that they didn't supply themselves. So, bringing my hacked-up foot-treadle rig is completely forbidden. Likewise, a commercial USB foot controller is right out. Our employers won't supply any special ergonomic kit at all, beyond the mouse-pad with the gel wrist-rest.
So, my brain is dreaming up mechanical solutions to my client's client's requirements. Here is where I am stuck. I am no hardware hacker at all. I have a napkin-sketch involving surgical tubing, binder clips, turkey basters, and something like one of these DIY pneumatic cylinders. However, while the provided YouTube video does describe something like what I'm trying to do, I would need a single-action spring-return version of that YouTube hack, and I have no idea whatsoever how to go about modifying what looks like a double-action cylinder. Just put a spring inside? I dunno. I am not a maker; I do okay with duck tape and zipties, but most of my clever solutions involve scripting languages. I watched a lot of videos of dudes making really nice linear actuators at home, but I don't have a, what you call it, a lathe? A metal-cutty-thingy. That in itself should give you an idea of my general manufacturing acumen.
There are lots of kinds of questions that I would think first "try an AskMe!" But little DIY-robotics questions aren't one of those kinds of questions. Am I wrong about you, AskMe? Some kinds of answers I would very much like to see are:
1) Links to other communities that are full of clever, helpful maker-types who will make useful suggestions to me, whether or not their suggestions are related to the solution I described above
2) Advice from MeFites who are already DIY-pneumatics-hackers, or people-who-make-real-stuff of some kind, who know where I'm headed with this and can point out some potential pitfalls or solutions.
3) Suggestions for mechanical keyboard-foot-pedal thingies that are not pneumatic in nature. Brake cables from my box of bike repair stuff? Cheap would be good. Open to pretty much anything.
4) Anything else? Surprise me! The only things I don't want to hear about involve talking to management, looking for new jobs, asking for reasonable accommodation, and so on. Been there already, and while they were helpful, and gave us mousepads with gel-lozenges and chairs with arms and stuff, they didn't just go out and buy us transcriptionist's foot-treadles.
What is it you actually need to do in order to do your work? It's not clear to me. Do you need to send a keyboard button-has-been-pressed signal via your foot? Something else?
posted by Jairus at 11:35 AM on December 23, 2018
posted by Jairus at 11:35 AM on December 23, 2018
I believe OP needs something to control the thing they're listening to, to stop and start it while they're typing.
posted by masquesoporfavor at 11:53 AM on December 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by masquesoporfavor at 11:53 AM on December 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Yes, I am trying to send a keystroke with my foot. I am trying to take some stain off of my wrists; I might need to whack F4 or F11 two thousand times in a workday. I cannot remap that key to a different key that is closer to the home row. I cannot use USB, PS2, or anything at all that plugs into a computer.
posted by BrunoLatourFanclub at 11:56 AM on December 23, 2018
posted by BrunoLatourFanclub at 11:56 AM on December 23, 2018
Can you take a second USB keyboard (provided by the company) and pull off all the key caps except F4/F11 and/or pull off all the keycaps except keys you use software to remap? And then use the keyboard as your foot pedal?
posted by Jairus at 12:02 PM on December 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Jairus at 12:02 PM on December 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
Can you postprocess what you type? So, for example, insert the word BANANA or some such nonce into the text stream, then later replace it by whatever F11 does? It's a pretty trivial scripting problem to do this, and the only problem would probably be due to human error (e.g., accidentally typing BANAN 1 in 100 times).
posted by axiom at 12:10 PM on December 23, 2018
posted by axiom at 12:10 PM on December 23, 2018
What Jairus said - most computers easily (e.g. automatically) support multiple keyboards.
You should be able to plug in a second USB keyboard and put it on the floor. Now you all you need to do is figure out how to hit only the keys you want with your feet.
I was thinking of building a little plywood box around the keyboard, then drill holes over the keys you need to hit. Insert dowels through those holes so they rest on the keys, then tap the top of the dowels with your feet.
Obviously there's a lot of room for refinement, but you get the idea :)
posted by jpeacock at 12:10 PM on December 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
You should be able to plug in a second USB keyboard and put it on the floor. Now you all you need to do is figure out how to hit only the keys you want with your feet.
I was thinking of building a little plywood box around the keyboard, then drill holes over the keys you need to hit. Insert dowels through those holes so they rest on the keys, then tap the top of the dowels with your feet.
Obviously there's a lot of room for refinement, but you get the idea :)
posted by jpeacock at 12:10 PM on December 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
You might also be able to find a remapping technique that supports multiple keyboards, and then remap the left half of the keyboard to one action and the right half to the other.
posted by Jairus at 12:14 PM on December 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Jairus at 12:14 PM on December 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Given that you're already going to lack USB access, they might want to lock the internet/allowed software down as well, which will limit your flexibility to do something like put a mouse on the floor and bind left/right to F4/F11. If they do let you install software, you can probably make that happen with AutoHotkey or the like.
I don't have any particular expertise in rigging ad-hoc input devices, but as a long term RSI sufferer I empathize. (My preferred keyboard has built in foot-pedal support, so I know kinda what you're looking for from a workflow perspective at least.)
Here's some (crappy) ideas:
- Bluetooth "page turners": they generally do up/down or the like, but you could probably tell Windows/OS X to interpret as F11 (new keyboard layout, or AutoHotKey/Karabiner Elements)
- Assuming that they'll give you a second keyboard, rest a cheap plastic footrest over keys (plastic so it's light enough not to trigger at rest. Might need to put a sponge or other support under, and you might need to play with repeat rate to prevent multiple presses at once.
- Foot pedal, cord or string. Attach cord to keyboard frame below key, run cord behind desk to foot pedal. Probably prone to shifting off center, so let's cut a drinking straw up, tape it to the key and run it through that. Also tape the keyboard to the desk, or weight it down to stop it from sliding. Could work with a single keyboard!
- If there's a privacy guard / wall behind the desk, attach the second keyboard upside down, with all function keys pull except F4/F11. Arrange two drum pedals so that the beater hits the Fn keys in question. If this puts the pedals too far from the front of the desk, attach something to beater or keys to make this longer.
Good luck!
posted by Anonymous Function at 3:53 PM on December 23, 2018
I don't have any particular expertise in rigging ad-hoc input devices, but as a long term RSI sufferer I empathize. (My preferred keyboard has built in foot-pedal support, so I know kinda what you're looking for from a workflow perspective at least.)
Here's some (crappy) ideas:
- Bluetooth "page turners": they generally do up/down or the like, but you could probably tell Windows/OS X to interpret as F11 (new keyboard layout, or AutoHotKey/Karabiner Elements)
- Assuming that they'll give you a second keyboard, rest a cheap plastic footrest over keys (plastic so it's light enough not to trigger at rest. Might need to put a sponge or other support under, and you might need to play with repeat rate to prevent multiple presses at once.
- Foot pedal, cord or string. Attach cord to keyboard frame below key, run cord behind desk to foot pedal. Probably prone to shifting off center, so let's cut a drinking straw up, tape it to the key and run it through that. Also tape the keyboard to the desk, or weight it down to stop it from sliding. Could work with a single keyboard!
- If there's a privacy guard / wall behind the desk, attach the second keyboard upside down, with all function keys pull except F4/F11. Arrange two drum pedals so that the beater hits the Fn keys in question. If this puts the pedals too far from the front of the desk, attach something to beater or keys to make this longer.
Good luck!
posted by Anonymous Function at 3:53 PM on December 23, 2018
Best answer: You may be able to do the keyboard "footpedal" with a mouse. Then a big chunk of air hardening clay to turn it into something easy to press with your foot.
Purely mechanical I'd use a either a pneumatic or cable camera release. Some plastercine to hold the remote end in place over the function key. And either build a pedal mount for the cable release (a couple of boards hinged together) or just use the bulb of the pneumatic release.
posted by Mitheral at 4:08 PM on December 23, 2018
Purely mechanical I'd use a either a pneumatic or cable camera release. Some plastercine to hold the remote end in place over the function key. And either build a pedal mount for the cable release (a couple of boards hinged together) or just use the bulb of the pneumatic release.
posted by Mitheral at 4:08 PM on December 23, 2018
Best answer: This is more hacky than I think you need, since some of the other solutions above would work. But I did this one by taking the keyboard apart, finding the circuit that gets completed when you press the key that I wanted (it's just metal traces on a pad), soldering a wire to each side of that circuit, putting the keypad back together, and then making a thing that connected the two wires when my desired event happened.
The thing I made consisted of a small foam pad with the wires on each side, and a hole in the middle where they cross (but were held apart by the thickness of the pad). When you step on it, the pad compresses and the wires touch. Absolutely NOT robust enough for your purposes. I just need it to work for a single day. But maybe it gives you an idea. The key is getting the circuit-completing wires coming out of the keyboard.
posted by lollusc at 7:01 PM on December 23, 2018
The thing I made consisted of a small foam pad with the wires on each side, and a hole in the middle where they cross (but were held apart by the thickness of the pad). When you step on it, the pad compresses and the wires touch. Absolutely NOT robust enough for your purposes. I just need it to work for a single day. But maybe it gives you an idea. The key is getting the circuit-completing wires coming out of the keyboard.
posted by lollusc at 7:01 PM on December 23, 2018
"The rule that's killing my joints and ligaments is that, in order to prevent corporate espionage, they won't let us plug any USB thing into the computers that they didn't supply themselves."
Including the keyboard? There must be a clause in the Americans with Disabilities Act that forces them to have some latitude there though it might not apply to you.
Assuming they would accept a different keyboard from a major manufacturer, you could get a gammer keyboard like the Logitech G19 that puts programmable keys (nearly) within reach of your left hand. I don't know if this one, or any other one, requires some special driver software, so you would have to check. There are other game keyboards with similar G-keys.
Another possibility would be to find a smaller, more compact keyboard. On the HP keyboard I'm using now, the reach to F4 and F11 is about an inch beyond what I can reach with other fingers still on the home row. You could reduce that some just by gluing a bit of something on the key to make it larger. Note: some "mini" keyboards don't have F11 and F12.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:44 AM on December 24, 2018
Including the keyboard? There must be a clause in the Americans with Disabilities Act that forces them to have some latitude there though it might not apply to you.
Assuming they would accept a different keyboard from a major manufacturer, you could get a gammer keyboard like the Logitech G19 that puts programmable keys (nearly) within reach of your left hand. I don't know if this one, or any other one, requires some special driver software, so you would have to check. There are other game keyboards with similar G-keys.
Another possibility would be to find a smaller, more compact keyboard. On the HP keyboard I'm using now, the reach to F4 and F11 is about an inch beyond what I can reach with other fingers still on the home row. You could reduce that some just by gluing a bit of something on the key to make it larger. Note: some "mini" keyboards don't have F11 and F12.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:44 AM on December 24, 2018
If you can do fancy keyboard mapping you could do a typing hack. A bunch of Vim users do something like map 'jj' to the Esc key. Because 'jj' doesn't come up often (and if you really need a 'jj' you just have to type it slowly). So maybe 'qj' is F4 and 'q;' is F11.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:19 AM on December 24, 2018
posted by zengargoyle at 10:19 AM on December 24, 2018
If you do need to build a foot pedal, I'd suggest something based on one of the tiny and cheap computers, e.g. Raspberry pi or Arduino. You would just need something like a telegraph key to step on, and a solenoid to press the key. There is an example of detecting a key press here, and an example of using a solenoid here.
This would be much neater and more reliable than a Rube Goldberg arrangement of wires and pulleys, or squeeze bulbs and air tubes.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:17 AM on December 24, 2018
This would be much neater and more reliable than a Rube Goldberg arrangement of wires and pulleys, or squeeze bulbs and air tubes.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:17 AM on December 24, 2018
Using Arduino, you could keep your existing MIDI foot pedal as the input. Go foot pedal -> Arduino -> solenoid out. You probably want to stick with Arduino - an rPi is overkill processing wise, and a little harder to get microcontroller level stuff in and out of.
Arduino MIDI in
Arduino solenoid out
and maybe even better - here's an entire list of parts and tutorial for building a midi to solenoid arduino based kit which you'd have to adapt to using a CC instead of a noteon message.
The only finicky thing you'd have to build in this scenario is a bracket for the solenoid to keep it hitting the key correctly. You could probably do that with 2 angle brackets and a piece of wood though.
posted by drapatz at 11:14 AM on December 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Arduino MIDI in
Arduino solenoid out
and maybe even better - here's an entire list of parts and tutorial for building a midi to solenoid arduino based kit which you'd have to adapt to using a CC instead of a noteon message.
The only finicky thing you'd have to build in this scenario is a bracket for the solenoid to keep it hitting the key correctly. You could probably do that with 2 angle brackets and a piece of wood though.
posted by drapatz at 11:14 AM on December 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Continuing the thought experiment about an Arduino solution: I'm a bit worried about the sound, i.e. noise, a solenoid might make. An easily audible snapping sound would not be popular with a neighbor even if you stand it yourself.
Thinking about the actual key-pressing hardware, I would think about a Class 1 lever, i.e. a light wood lever hinged in the middle. The working end would have a pad (or finger) resting on the key. The solenoid or similar would operate on the other end beyond the hinge.
The device would need a base. I'm thinking of 1/4" plywood under the whole keyboard and extending beyond it as necessary. It would have chocks to hold the KB in place. Pads or posts of the required height would sit (glued) on the base and have the lever hinged on top. The hinge could be a simple as a screw eye fitted into a slot in the lever with a "axle" thru the eye. A clevis pin would make a good axle. The location of the posts would have to be worked out to keep the clutter way from the ESC and other necessary keys.
The pusher device goes at the other end of the lever, but I don't have the information to determine what it would look like. It's all reminiscent of a OHV rocker arm.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:35 AM on December 26, 2018
Thinking about the actual key-pressing hardware, I would think about a Class 1 lever, i.e. a light wood lever hinged in the middle. The working end would have a pad (or finger) resting on the key. The solenoid or similar would operate on the other end beyond the hinge.
The device would need a base. I'm thinking of 1/4" plywood under the whole keyboard and extending beyond it as necessary. It would have chocks to hold the KB in place. Pads or posts of the required height would sit (glued) on the base and have the lever hinged on top. The hinge could be a simple as a screw eye fitted into a slot in the lever with a "axle" thru the eye. A clevis pin would make a good axle. The location of the posts would have to be worked out to keep the clutter way from the ESC and other necessary keys.
The pusher device goes at the other end of the lever, but I don't have the information to determine what it would look like. It's all reminiscent of a OHV rocker arm.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:35 AM on December 26, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by muddgirl at 11:33 AM on December 23, 2018