Cool Leaf Debuts Buttonless Input Devices

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Will keyboards and calculators of the future be totally key less? Minebea, who have developed a button free  input system named Cool Leaf, thinks maybe so.

Minebea Co. Ltd in collaboration with Osaka University professor Kazuo Kawasaki created some pretty nifty input devices which were unveiled Tuesday in Japan. The most noticeable attribute in the Cool Leaf system line, is that all three products introduced were keyless. That’s right no keys. By aiming to combine an aesthetically pleasing design with practical application, Minebea has decided to go with a shiny flat mirror like surface combined with a Qwerty keyboard that uses force sensors and the world’s first “electrostatic capacity type touch panel and a load sensor” to detect, instead of keys.

The surface is made of a transparent acrylic board, under which there is a half mirror-type film, which is made of new material by Toray Industries. Further beneath the surface, there is a capacitive touch sensor panel and light guide plate-type backlights. When Cool Leaf system devices are on, you can see letters and numbers, but when they are turned off the surface resembles a mirror.

Besides looking pretty, the super flat surface is intended to keep dust, dirt, crumbs and other stuff from finding it’s way inside your keyboard or other input device and make cleaning easier. Smudging may be likely, but no more stuck keys. No word yet on if Cool Leaf system products are water resistant, but that would be a neat feature. Although the Cool Leaf series make great eye candy, one has to wonder how easy and practical these products are to use, since there is no way to ‘feel’ your way around the device.

So far only three Cool Leaf system products have been introduced and none or yet commercially available. Minebea has not yet stated when these products will be become available, or how much they will cost; however it has stated that it plans to expand Cool Leaf to other digital devices, that may be planned for production in the future. When Cool Leaf system devices do become available at your local tech store, you can bet they will be surrounded by curious faces and perhaps some interested on lookers.