Key-Ped :: USB keys for your feet: I broke my right wrist and sprained my hand while snowboarding in mid-February 2005. Typing with my left hand was really slowing me down...to the point where I would leave most capitalization out of my emails (other than the word "I", which seemed to cross some sort of importance threshold .. go figure). Other two-handed computer tasks were similarly difficult, like multiple-item mouse selection with [Ctrl], and hitting [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete]. So I decided that technology must be the solution, and 1 weekend later I got to work.

The discovery that my computer would happily accept keystrokes from 2 USB keyboards simultaneously was the first step. I found an under-used (apple) keyboard (thanks Carlos), hacked it apart, and took a look at the circuit.

Inside, the keyboard is a scanning matrix with membrane switches resting on top of it, so all I had to do was use a multimeter to figure out which part of the circuit needed to be shorted to which other part in order to produce certain keystroke messages. I was after [Shift], [Ctrl], and [Alt] - so 6 shorts later I had discovered the mapping.

I pulled the circuit board out of the keyboard, bolted it to the back of a lasercut acrylic platform, did some (clumsy) soldering, and it was ready to go.

I actually use it a lot - it speeds up my one-handed typing considerably...and makes email more of a full-body activity!

p.s. I found that you can buy a commercial version of this online... FOR $149! If you want to be suckered, click here. To be fair, my design isn't particularly cheap as-is (acrylic is pricey) - but one could build the whole thing for about $30 using plywood.

p.p.s Musician's Friend sells nice footswitches made by Yamaha for $12.99 - check it out here.