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Keyboard shifts itself to help avoid injuries
Don Smith / The Record Smartfish owners Jack and Ellen Atzmom have created the Pro:Motion keyboard that repositions itself automatically.
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More from BusinessHACKENSACK, N.J. — Smartfish Technologies says it's invented the world's first computer keyboard that won't cause wrist injuries.
The brainchild of Englewood, N.J., chiropractor-turned-inventor Jack Atzmon, the regular-size keyboard contains a small motor and enough computer power to tilt slightly every so often — on three different axes — thus moving the user's typing position.
Smartfish finished building a working prototype in January and has not yet conducted clinical trials to support its theory, but it collaborated with The Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan on the keyboard design.
"It has the potential to decrease the incidence of carpal tunnel (syndrome)," said JaMe Cioppa-Mosca, a physical therapist and assistant vice president of the hospital's rehabilitation program, who also serves as an unpaid adviser to Smartfish.
So-called ergonomic keyboards are nothing new, but Atzmon's novel approach has caught the attention of some big fish.
"We've gone beyond what any other keyboard manufacturer has done," Atzmon said.
Atzmon, the company's president and chief executive officer, hopes to license the Pro:Motion keyboard technology (which Smartfish also has developed for use with a computer mouse and game controller), or sell the company outright if the price is right.
Atzmon had his "aha!" moment during a trip to a Best Buy about two years ago. He realized that by having the keyboard itself move slightly every so often, it would shift the angle of a typist's wrists and keep the carpal tunnel region from staying in the same position all the time.
"It's the static that's scary," Atzmon said.
Smartfish's Pro:Motion keyboard, with a suggested retail price of $130, moves every 4,000 to 6,000 keystrokes, according to the company. It remembers the last user's typing pattern and will reposition itself about eight times a day. It also knows when you pause, and moves only then, so it doesn't interrupt work flow.
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