Some time has passed since our last post on the Optimus Concepts from one of Russia’s best design studio’s: Art. Lebedev. This time we will provide you with the full process of how the idea came to be the product. Designers: it is time to start drooling!

About 15 years ago Artemy Lebedev was sitting in front of his computer, most likely working on something cool, continuously irritated by the dead feedback from his keyboard (we admit; it is just a thought. Artemy; correct us if we were wrong). He asked himself why a keyboard could not have multiple functions for each key, and be able to show these functionalities. Enter the Optimus Concept: a keyboard with displays in each key, being able to show not only a single character or image, but any character or image corresponding with the function you wish that key to have.

For more than 10 years this concept remained a concept until one day Artemy decided it was time to stun the world with his ideas on the keyboards of the future. Although “reliable sources” (Artemy was not the only one at CeBit, we were there too) claimed that if he didn’t start this publicity stunt other competitors would have taken over. It was the mass (geek-) appeal that started the fame. And thus the fire began to spread.

Read on for all the details on the work that went on behind the (iron) curtain in developing what is now known as Optimus Maximus. And please; prepare yourself for some serious visual material!

So Artemy and his team got to work. The basis: putting some kind of display in each key. After some research and a lot of coffee the choice was made to go for the promising OLED-technology. For those of you who are not familiar with OLED’s: they are Organic LED’s, small Light Emitting Diodes, compressed in a thin sheet of organic material. They are also more durable and less cost-effective. In case you are wondering; E-ink is still not an option due to it having a very slow refresh rate.

Now it is time to create some buttons for these displays. The hard part is integrating all the components and create a connector that does not wear out from continuous movement of the key itself. The choice was made to use solid key caps made of darkened polycarbonate. This way the display inside a key will look like it occupies the whole area. The visible area looks like a window, which will not be obvious in real life. This is done to create this is done to create the impression of a frameless screen.

Time for some key models, to see what creates the best looks and viewing angles. The decision to use a black background is centered around the most optically pleasing look and create a less visible display grid. The addition to use a plastic cover is focussed on getting better perspective results and overlayed polarizers are used to direct light from displays to the ‘working scope of view’. Finally the choice was made to create a fixed display with a key cap moving above it. This way the displays will be more durable and are easier to integrate. They were considering to put 1 gigantic display beneath the entire layout of the keyboard but the result of such thinking was more fit to their Upravlator product.

With the display chosen and visual style set it is time to incorporate all the details into a keyboard-shaped form. Not only will there be some micro controller to handle all the signals and display settings, there will also be the need for a power supply. Because all these OLED’s will not run on 5 Volts of power alone. Therefor an integrated power supply was designed. Earlier mock-ups show not only the interior, but also the fact that even pro designers work with tape and foam.

Work progressed and soon the world was flooded with 3D renders. And these guys know how to make 3D images. At this years CeBit they were not showing a real prototype and only computer generated images because “no prototype could hold the beauty of the eventual product”. So you’ll have to do with these virtual images for now.

This shows the final form factor for Optimus Maximus. From here on it is time to talk about some details. The latest news we told you about dealt with some new features and functionalities. And at that moment not much was known. However, since time progressed, we are now able to give you a rundown on the most important things you will be wanting to know about Optimus Maximus:

- 114 keys, 104 standard keys and 10 extra application keys to the left side of the keyboard
- each key has an OLED-display of 32 by 32 pixels in full color and will last about 5 years in full brightness, to about 10 years with reasonable brightness
- every key is user replaceable, separate keys cost 10$

- Optimus Maximus is a mass-storage device, you can edit and upload images to it
- it will have 2 USB ports, similar to a Mac keyboard
- the final layout:

- it is programmable on any operating system (OS X, Linux and Windows)
- you can easily attach any function or image to any key with the bundled software, it is even possible to make keys change when you press for example the CTRL-key, to showcase all the new key-combinations in real-time
- the keyboard is able to detect active applications and change according to a matching layout
- stay tuned for many third party plugins and await the ever growing implementation of Artemy’s wish list for Maximus’ features, which we were told is 10 pages long

- the whole apparatus will cost you 1490$ and should be ready for pre-order later this month
- eventually you can order a Maximus with a number of OLED keys and an additional set of standard keys for less cash, so you will be able to replace the standard keys when you have some more money

Further more: on March the 27th Artemy announced that they had some bad news. Their OLED manufacturer has some serious financial troubles and is not able to deliver the displays. The really bad thing being they have to search for a new factory and spend some three months making new OLED’s.

The good news is that they will start the tooling processes without waiting for the displays to arrive. This way they will be able to insert the OLED’s into the keyboard case with electronics. However, this approach could come with an extended release date and additional retooling charges if the displays do not perfectly match the casing. Hopefully this wonderful product will be shipping in December of 2007, with pre-orders starting in April.

So there you have it folks, the latest information on one of the hottest computer peripherals in town, but also the most delayed one. If you have any questions regarding this, or any other product from Art. Lebedev; feel free to comment below. We will be happy to answer all the questions you have.

UPDATE:

This is just in: the people at Art. Lebedev did a quick check to find out where their pretty expensive keyboard stands. We were stunned to see there are even more expensive keyboards out there. Go check out their overview of some of the weirdest keyboard-related input devices. According to Artemy it is desirable to add a table comparing functionality, which he might eventually post himself. Stay tuned for the latest updates.

Studio469 - Up to date, today!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 29th, 2007 at 0:22 and is filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.