Hey everyone,

Just wanted to give a quick heads-up for anyone who might have missed it, there are only 7 days left on the Kickstarter campaign for the TAIKO-01 keyboard!

If you haven’t seen it yet, there's some background here: https://lemmy.world/post/47465897.

You can find the campaign and all the details here:

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/taikohub/taiko-01-keyboard

Official Site: https://taiko.taikohub.com/

What do you guys think of the layout and design? Anyone here already backed it?

Hey all,

Some of you have seen me post here before. For those who haven't, I'm David, I'm a Canadian primary care doctor, worked in chronic pain, and I built a split ergonomic keyboard. It's called the TAIKO-01 and it launches on Kickstarter on Tuesday (June 2).

For those who do know about this, yes it's finally actually happening 😭. Appreciate everyone who stuck around.

The TL;DR is 5 years ago I got carpal tunnel and wrist tendinosis, built one for myself, serendipitously ended up selling dactyl-like variations to a lot of people over the years, took the feedback I got then created this based off it, quit my job to work on this, found out the hard way that injection mold designs are way more complicated than 3D printed designs, ended up working on this for a whole year.

Details:

Switches: Gateron browns. 4 switches are 1.5u in size and 56 are 1u in size.

Keycaps: Laser-etched ABS XDA profile keycaps

Connectivity: Wired USB

OS Compatibility: Linux, macOS, Windows

Firmware Compatibility: QMK, Vial, VIA

Keycap Compatibility: XDA, DSA, MOA, SA Row 3 and MA

Keyswitch Compatibility: All MX-style keyswitches

Prelaunch waitlist here is still open until Monday if you want the early backer price.

Happy to answer any questions.

*It is NOT wireless

Hey all, My name is David. I'm a Canadian primary care doctor who used to have a chronic pain practice. I built a concave split ergonomic keyboard I'm launching June 2nd. You can find it at taiko.taikohub.com. If you sign up for the waitlist now, you can get a discount on top of the promotional launch price.

I posted on here maybe like 4-5 months ago about my progress with the TAIKO-01 if you're thinking this sounds familiar.

1. How this keybord started

A bit about me. I developed carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist tendinosis back in 2020, tried a bunch of things like physio, wrist brace, etc that helped but didn't fix my problems. I ended up looking into workplace ergonomics and made my own split dactyl-like keyboard. By sheer coincidence, I ended up making keyboards for people for the past 4 years. I've talked to a ton of awesome users over those years, made a ton of iterations. I quit my job this year to create the TAIKO-01 based on their feedback.

2. Updates for the last 4-5 months

Since the last update 4-5 months ago, I did a full redesign of the keyboard. This was to optimize design for manufacturability. But now it's finally done, so everything is ready for injection molding. Since I've been doing this for years, you wouldn't think it'd take this long. But it ended up taking an entire year 😱. It's humbling how hard it is going from 3D printing to injection molding.

3. What's special about this keyboard

You might've seen split concave keyboards like Kinesis Advantage, Glove80. Here's how the TAIKO-01 is different:

1. It's more compact, which makes it easier to transport.
2. It has a thumb cluster that's easier to reach because it's oriented at a downward angle. This lets you use thumb abduction instead of thumb extension, clarified by this diagram. Thumb abduction is much more ergonomic than thumb extension, which is what happens with Kinesis Advantage, Moonlander and Glove80. This is because thumb abduction puts you in a handshake position.
3. Layer keys (LOWER and RAISE) are offset at a lower height compared to other keys on the thumb cluster so you won't accidentally hit it. Note that layer keys let you toggle or temporarily switch to a different keyboard layout.
4. It's hotswappable. It's also QMK compatible.
5. If you want to see a side by side comparison with the Kinesis Advantage, I made a quick video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/GId4orK1fn0

4. The ultimate goal

But it's one thing to be confident from anecdotal evidence and another to be confident from clinical evidence. The goal is to save enough from sales to do a clinical study so we know how split concave keyboards helps people and what exactly it helps with (carpal tunnel, wrist tendinosis, de Quervains, epicondylitis, etc). From user feedback (n>120), there seems to be strong feedback it helps people with their wrist/hand/elbow pain. It's just what exactly it helps and under what circumstances it helps (used with standing desk, augmented with physio, etc) is muddled.

If you're interested, please check out taiko.taikohub.com.

There is no way this doesn't turn out really bad ...

Warnings of Iran Invasion Grow as US to Send Up to 5,000 Marines, Sailors to Middle East

Just wanted to share a render for a keyboard I'm making. It's coming end of this year. I didn't show it in the pictures, but it would have legends on the keycaps. I've used dactyls and dactyl-likes before and I've always wanted one that feels solid with high quality injection molded cases instead of the 3D printed ones.

Join the waitlist here: https://taiko.taikohub.com/

Our discord is here: https://discord.gg/ByZyyZDb

Materials: Injection molded ASA plastic.

Target price: ~$350.

Wired/Wireless: The product would come wired. Wireless module to come afterwards.

Hotswappable