LOMAK
Encyclopedia
LOMAK is an acronym for Light Operated Mouse And Keyboard. It is an assistive technology
device designed for use by people who cannot use a standard computer keyboard
and mouse
. The Lomak is clipped to an adjustable stand placed vertically underneath the computer screen and is operated by a small laser pointer
mounted on a hat or headband. Some people who have arm movement can alternatively use the Lomak horizontally with a hand-pointer. It can be used as an additional keyboard and mouse with any desktop or laptop computer which has a spare USB port
. Like many computer peripherals for people with special access needs, it is very expensive, about $1500.
. It does not require installation of any software. When used in mouse mode, it can move the computer's mouse cursor at fast or slow speeds as selected by the user, and generate left or right clicks on command. When used in keyboard mode, it can generate any of the characters created by a standard keyboard, including Shift
, Ctrl
, and Alt
combinations.
The keyboard has three circles of keys each surrounding a central Confirm sensor, with setup and control keys in a horizontal bar below. Each key comprises a light sensor and an associated LED
indicator which turns on when the key is active. Each change of key is optionally accompanied by an audible click. Characters are selected and sent to the computer when confirmed.
The head-pointer contains a laser and operates from an internal battery for about eight hours between charges. It turns off when pointed away from the keyboard and left stationary for a time. It has an internal switch which awakes the device when it is moved.
er Mike Watling saw the limited options available for young disabled people to communicate with their teachers. In 2001 Watling, an electrician, took time out to study for a Diploma in Applied Science at the Auckland University of Technology
, who provided the support to produce early prototype
s prior to commercial development and launch in 2005. Final development of the keyboard firmware
and quality assurance measures for manufacturing were undertaken by Industrial Research Limited
.
The Lomak keyboard was awarded gold in the International Design Excellence Awards of 2007.
A Lomak keyboard is on permanent display at New York's Museum of Modern Art
.
Assistive technology
Assistive technology or adaptive technology is an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and also includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them...
device designed for use by people who cannot use a standard computer keyboard
Computer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
and mouse
Mouse (computing)
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
. The Lomak is clipped to an adjustable stand placed vertically underneath the computer screen and is operated by a small laser pointer
Laser pointer
A laser pointer or laser pen is a small portable device with a power source and a laser emitting a very narrow coherent low-powered beam of visible light, intended to be used to highlight something of interest by illuminating it with a small bright spot of colored light...
mounted on a hat or headband. Some people who have arm movement can alternatively use the Lomak horizontally with a hand-pointer. It can be used as an additional keyboard and mouse with any desktop or laptop computer which has a spare USB port
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
. Like many computer peripherals for people with special access needs, it is very expensive, about $1500.
Description
The Lomak keyboard is a USB 1.0 device which plugs into a computer's USB portUniversal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
. It does not require installation of any software. When used in mouse mode, it can move the computer's mouse cursor at fast or slow speeds as selected by the user, and generate left or right clicks on command. When used in keyboard mode, it can generate any of the characters created by a standard keyboard, including Shift
Shift key
The shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate "upper" characters. There are typically two shift keys, on the left and right sides of the row below the home row...
, Ctrl
Control key
In computing, a Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, will perform a special operation ; similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself...
, and Alt
Alt key
The Alt key on a computer keyboard is used to change the function of other pressed keys. Thus, the Alt key is a modifier key, used in a similar fashion to the Shift key. For example, simply pressing "A" will type the letter a, but if you hold down either Alt key while pressing A, the computer...
combinations.
The keyboard has three circles of keys each surrounding a central Confirm sensor, with setup and control keys in a horizontal bar below. Each key comprises a light sensor and an associated LED
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
indicator which turns on when the key is active. Each change of key is optionally accompanied by an audible click. Characters are selected and sent to the computer when confirmed.
The head-pointer contains a laser and operates from an internal battery for about eight hours between charges. It turns off when pointed away from the keyboard and left stationary for a time. It has an internal switch which awakes the device when it is moved.
Internationalization
In order to generate language-specific characters and accent marks, the Lomak can be user-configured to emulate keyboards used in several countries. The keys on keyboards for international users have icon graphics in place of text. The international characters are selected by a shift procedure. The Lomak currently can emulate keyboards used in the following locales:- Belgian FrenchBelgian FrenchBelgian French is the variety of French spoken mainly in the French Community of Belgium, alongside related minority regional languages such as Walloon, Picard, Champenois and Gaumais. The French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, which were formerly Belgian...
- DanishDanish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
- FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
- GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
- NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
- SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
- SwedishSwedish languageSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
/FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a... - US/UK (the standard setting, which can be used in many EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking countries) - US International (this setting can generate characters for most European languages)
History
The keyboard had its origins in 1987 when AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
er Mike Watling saw the limited options available for young disabled people to communicate with their teachers. In 2001 Watling, an electrician, took time out to study for a Diploma in Applied Science at the Auckland University of Technology
Auckland University of Technology
The Auckland University of Technology is a university in New Zealand. It was formed on 1 January 2000 when the Auckland Institute of Technology was granted university status. Its primary campus is on Wellesley Street in Auckland's Central business district...
, who provided the support to produce early prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
s prior to commercial development and launch in 2005. Final development of the keyboard firmware
Firmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...
and quality assurance measures for manufacturing were undertaken by Industrial Research Limited
Industrial Research Limited
Industrial Research Limited is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. IRL provides research, development and commercialisation services aim at fostering industry development, economic growth and business expansion...
.
The Lomak keyboard was awarded gold in the International Design Excellence Awards of 2007.
A Lomak keyboard is on permanent display at New York's Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
.
External links
- Opdo Guides - online user instructions for Lomak and Notesai keyboards
- Keyboard opens brave new world - a news item in New Zealand Herald 18 May 2005 concerning two brothers with congenital spinal muscular atrophySpinal muscular atrophySpinal Muscular Atrophy is a neuromuscular disease characterized by degeneration of motor neurons, resulting in progressive muscular atrophy and weakness. The clinical spectrum of SMA ranges from early infant death to normal adult life with only mild weakness...
who use Lomak keyboards in their school studies. - Re-connecting Shirley - an article (undated) on the Western Institute of Technology (New Plymouth, New Zealand) website describing a multiple sclerosisMultiple sclerosisMultiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
sufferer who uses a Lomak keyboard to trace her family genealogy, crosswords, puzzles and manipulate photos. - Light Activated Mouse and Keyboard (LOMAK) - a page on the Cure Kids USA website giving further case studies of Lomak and Notesai keyboard users including a young girl with Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome and a teenager with spastic quadriplegiaQuadriplegiaTetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all their limbs and torso; paraplegia is similar but does not affect the arms...
cerebral palsyCerebral palsyCerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
. - Lomak keyboard - a page on Industrial Research LimitedIndustrial Research LimitedIndustrial Research Limited is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. IRL provides research, development and commercialisation services aim at fostering industry development, economic growth and business expansion...
's website detailing their contribution to the design process (3 December 2009). - The Lomak Laser Keyboard - a 2-minute video demonstrating use of the Lomak keyboard, created by CAP, the Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program in the DoD.