Researchers are working on a smart keyboard that can identify who is typing by recording and assessing the user's typing patterns. This, they say, can potentially replace passwords, biometrics, and other incomplete security methods we use today to secure our computer systems.
A team of scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, and other research laboratories in China have come up with a prototype for an intelligent keyboard (IKB) that analyzes a user's typing patterns by measuring contact electrification between the user's fingers and the keys. In other words, the IKB uses typing friction to register each individual keystroke and create a picture of the user's typing style.
This is made possible through a layer of transparent thin film materials on the surface of the IKB that interact to trigger a wireless alarm whenever a finger approaches a key, sending out electric signals that the researchers found varied based on the "manner and rhythm of the keystroke, typing habit, finger size, individual bioelectricity, and applied typing force." The researchers say each keystroke can be traced and recorded while the user is typing, meaning the IKB is capable of identifying who is typing at the moment the person is making the keystrokes.
"This capability will provide administrators with great convenience for identifying impostors or intruders, and it will have extensive applications in keyboard-based information security," the researchers say.
Furthermore, the layer of electrification materials found on the IKB allows the keyboard to convert mechanical energy into electricity that can power itself or other devices. The researchers say the IKB can charge "small electronics" at an arbitrary typing speed of 100 characters per minute or approximately 20 words per minute.
To top it all off, this smart keyboard can also clean itself, thanks to a water- and dirt-repellent coating that allows it to clean itself of sweat, food crumbs, and other materials that would otherwise get stuck in between the keys of a regular keyboard.
The one-piece, non-mechanical punching keyboard is still a prototype, but researchers believe a fully developed version will be particularly useful in various applications such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and computer or network access control. Moreover, they are not limiting the use of the IKB to computer keyboards, as other everyday tools such as cash registers, ATMs, game machines, and musical instruments, can benefit from this invention as well.
The researchers have published the details of their smart keyboard in the journal ACS Nano.
