[HN Gopher] Semaphore: A Full-Body Keyboard
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Semaphore: A Full-Body Keyboard
        
       Author : kieto
       Score  : 1070 points
       Date   : 2023-04-12 08:24 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | dhritzkiv wrote:
       | I'd love to see this used to play QWOP
        
         | fheisler wrote:
         | I tried that out! It was honestly hard to tell a difference,
         | I'm already so bad at it...
        
       | asimpletune wrote:
       | The jump for space and the jazz hands for exclamation mark are
       | pure gold
        
       | muyuu wrote:
       | next time I'm spastic I'll tell my wife I'm actually working in
       | my next project
        
       | schneems wrote:
       | "You can't code and workout at the same time"
       | 
       | Oh yeah, watch me
        
       | jsrcout wrote:
       | Magnificently pointless, in the finest traditions of the old-time
       | hackers. Sir, I salute you.
        
       | jimmySixDOF wrote:
       | This is straight up awesome and must watch video just for the
       | lolz.
       | 
       | But there is a thread to pull on here in terms of tangible user
       | interfaces and the replacement of keyboards as a traditional
       | input system. Meta's CTRL-Labs (ex Myo Armband) are working on
       | EMG where just signaling to your muscles can trigger keyboard
       | strokes and the bandwidth is faster than fingers or so they say.
       | There are several other R&D efforts in that direction from BCIs
       | to free space gesture detection through different flavors of
       | computer vision and sensor fusion. Mr Everything Is Hacked is
       | doing it here just for the sheer joy of the journey but there are
       | serious reasons to play around with qwerty alternatives.
        
         | mncharity wrote:
         | > replacement of keyboards
         | 
         | Or _augmentation_ of keyboards: wand /stylus; 3D finger
         | tracking; multitouch tablet. Extending rather than dumpstering
         | existing refined comfortable power. My laptop used to have
         | three extra fold-out cameras for TFA-like mediapipe games.
         | Though tech resets are an opportunity to escape trap deadends,
         | to "do better this time" - that thinkpad keyboard was a
         | crippled and crippling 2-key rollover. And sensor fusion with
         | diverse latencies (keypress vs pose-tracked video) is
         | nontrivial - complex event processing with backtrackable app
         | state. LLMs with UI/HID "languages" will be such fun!
        
         | pavel_lishin wrote:
         | How's that research going? It would be interesting to be able
         | to "type" on any surface, just by pretending there's a keyboard
         | in front of me.
        
           | mncharity wrote:
           | > "type" on any surface
           | 
           | There's Tap Strap, and not-yet-released TapXR, though they
           | are more chording keyboards than "keyboard in front of me".
        
       | landswipe wrote:
       | This guy Chucks Norris.
        
       | junon wrote:
       | This is so dorky. I love it.
        
       | schabby wrote:
       | Reminds me of Eurythmics from back in the day when I attended a
       | Rudolf Steiner school.
        
         | dotancohen wrote:
         | Eurythmics and not the Village People?
        
           | severak_cz wrote:
           | Eurythmy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurythmy
        
       | mclightning wrote:
       | Seeing OpenCV in this post-ML world, gave me some nostalgia
       | /teary eyed emoji
        
       | ivolimmen wrote:
       | I am mostly impressed by the fact that he can keep a straight
       | face while signaling. Impressive!
        
         | fheisler wrote:
         | It honestly takes all my focus and concentration to remember
         | the signals quickly. That's the look of 100% dedication to a
         | silly task!
        
           | whiplash451 wrote:
           | I am curious to know how far you take this in terms of it
           | becoming second nature. As in, maybe after days and weeks of
           | practice, you can type stuff effortlessly ?
           | 
           | How far away from effortless mastery are you?
        
             | fheisler wrote:
             | It's always going to be plenty of physical effort! In terms
             | of the mental overhead: there are some letters/motions like
             | R, F, D that just feel second-nature already from lots of
             | practice and more 'obvious' positions, but I still have to
             | think about most of them. A few letters still trip me up,
             | like remembering M versus S (mirror images). I'd love to
             | find a seasoned signalman to get their take.
        
       | patrickwalton wrote:
       | Pair this with Superhuman and you'll have Gmail Motion (April
       | Fools product) in the flesh! https://youtu.be/9KEcfP_CWVo
        
       | dekhn wrote:
       | Cool idea. I did something similar- a whiteboard with various
       | magnetic icons that were original SVGs. I trained an object
       | detector to recognize the different icons and extract that into a
       | data structure depending on the icon orientation and relative
       | positioning. I wanted to patent that as a brand new way of
       | programming- visual programming with real objects. Never went
       | anywhere with it.
        
       | iamwil wrote:
       | Oh, this is like the April Fool's day joke, Google Motion, back
       | in 2011.
       | 
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20151025130300/http://www.google...
       | 
       | Where you type email with your full body.
        
         | orangepanda wrote:
         | My first thought was Dance Dance Authentication
         | 
         | https://stackoverflow.blog/2017/03/30/stack-overflow-unveils...
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | Ironically this project also first got covered by Hackaday on
           | April 1, so quite a few people thought it was only another
           | prank.
        
       | cthemsley wrote:
       | Would love to see someone take this and use it to beat dark
       | souls.
        
         | darylteo wrote:
         | Mmmm it wouldn't be too different from using a DDR pad I
         | suppose?
        
         | hombre_fatal wrote:
         | Here's someone playing Dark Souls with poses through a Kinect:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xak0l2-Zg9w
        
       | shaunxcode wrote:
       | do you need 3 people to do a choreographed emacs key chord? I
       | guess it could finally make peer programming necessary.
        
       | khnorgaard wrote:
       | This is superbly geeky and I love it! Unless you are missing an
       | arm or a leg. How would one go about adding accessibility to a
       | project like this?
        
       | aidenn0 wrote:
       | Fun Fact! the "peace sign" was originally created a superposition
       | of "N" and "D" semaphores as it was a logo for Nuclear
       | Disarmament.
       | 
       | [edit] I originally put U+262E in my comment, but apparently HN
       | strips some unicode characters?
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | He's got to have a peace sign with tongue moving back and forth
       | as a gesture as well
        
       | nathias wrote:
       | amazing, soon we will all be just prompt wizards casting our
       | spells using arcane gestures
        
         | eschneider wrote:
         | We call those bash scripts where I come from. =:8)
        
       | freethejazz wrote:
       | Step aside, Dvorak
        
       | breischl wrote:
       | command: lift left leg to ~horizontal thigh       control: lift
       | right leg to ~horizontal thigh
       | 
       | So command+control => midair splits?
        
         | eCa wrote:
         | That's a good use case for Sticky keys[1] for able-bodied
         | people that wish to remain so.
         | 
         | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_keys
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | fortylove wrote:
       | The peak mechanical keyboard will be when we teach robots to
       | accept voice dictation and they then write what we say using
       | these motions.
        
       | callamdelaney wrote:
       | My vim experience is going to be more ergonomic than ever, plus
       | after I deliver this project I'm gonna be ripped.
        
       | pjio wrote:
       | Not what I expected, but not disappointed either.
        
       | wodenokoto wrote:
       | That's pretty fun. Reminds me of the creativity with Xbox Kinect
       | back in the day.
        
       | s1mplicissimus wrote:
       | The idea of "dancing your name" seems to have caught on in an
       | unexpected way.
       | 
       | Love the project idea, the outfit worn for the demo video AND the
       | fact that the "!" sign seems to be a "shaking fingers" power pose
       | :D
        
       | redkoala wrote:
       | A sign-language based keyboard controller would be immediately
       | useful.
        
       | Version467 wrote:
       | I love everything about this. The idea, the implementation, the
       | demo video. My day is better for having seen it.
        
       | fheisler wrote:
       | Author here! Pleasant surprise to find my project at the top of
       | HN this morning with such positive feedback :) I'm happy to
       | answer any questions or hear suggestions for future tweaks.
       | Planning to make this into a customizable full-body game
       | controller as well.
        
         | mrandish wrote:
         | The video on your site, from the clothing to your expression,
         | is absolute perfection!
        
         | wpietri wrote:
         | Can I just say how much I liked the small details here? Like
         | your choice of matching sweatbands, your jazz hands on the last
         | symbol, your choice of pose for backspace, and the commit
         | message, "Updated readme for pedantry". In your honor, I am
         | performing the chef's-kiss gesture. (Which I hope you will
         | include as you add emoji to your input device.)
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | Thank you! Although TBF I only merged the pedantic README
           | update :D
        
         | izietto wrote:
         | As a remote software developer, if this became a product that
         | could be used daily I'd probably buy it. It would be the key
         | link between programming and body exercise.
        
           | nicorn789 wrote:
           | My back agrees with you
        
           | ghodith wrote:
           | Yoga pose based programming?
        
             | izietto wrote:
             | YDD, Yoga Driven Development
        
               | samstave wrote:
               | >DDDD
               | 
               | >>Downward Dog Driven Development
        
             | teddyh wrote:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation#Origins
        
         | dmead wrote:
         | how much did you love the nintendo powerglove back in the day?
        
         | otikik wrote:
         | Have you considered making a full body musical instrument?
        
         | senectus1 wrote:
         | that youtube video was hilarious and very clever... you're
         | about to become a overnight sensation mate :-D
        
         | cushychicken wrote:
         | Big Jack Stratton energy in your demo GIF.
         | 
         | Here's hoping this ends up in a Vulf music video.
        
         | SirLJ wrote:
         | This is absolutely great! Thank you Sir!
        
         | HopenHeyHi wrote:
         | I thought it was awesome. It occurred to me when you mentioned
         | tinkering with magic values that it won't be very tweekable for
         | other users like that.
         | 
         | Instead of MediaPipe try training a simple NN with a quickstart
         | asking new players to assume the positions for fine tuning? :P
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | Thanks! Yeah, I definitely chose the easy way over the
           | 'right' way for this version with just setting simple
           | thresholds.
           | 
           | I'm not sure how well it will work yet, but for a game
           | controller I might try to have users record their own custom
           | motions - as in, "show me a few of your chosen [high punch]
           | motions to match against in-game."
        
         | illiarian wrote:
         | Your video is a work of art.
         | 
         | You could probably combine semaphore keyboard with some sort of
         | stenography software for faster input (e.g. Plover
         | https://youtu.be/KZGuBV1xe64)
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | I replied to a similar comment above, definitely worth an
           | experiment!
        
         | munchler wrote:
         | Enjoyed your video, but quick FYI: Your SSN is visible on the
         | shot of your tax form. Might not want that detail to go viral.
        
           | J_tt wrote:
           | I don't think that is the authors SSN, since the first number
           | closely matches a song title and the second is "69 420 007",
           | which is definitely a joke.
        
         | elijahbenizzy wrote:
         | Thank you for this! Watching this brought me quite a bit of
         | joy.
        
         | pstorm wrote:
         | Have you considered adding an autocomplete? Maybe add in three
         | most likely completions to your word and have three separate
         | signals to select each respectively? Maybe that's cheating, but
         | that could up your words per minute drastically!
        
         | spit2wind wrote:
         | I hope the video was dramatized and that you didn't actually
         | hurt yourself!
         | 
         | Rather than type every letter, a more efficient system is to
         | represent sounds with keys. This is how stenography works. Each
         | stoke of the keys is mapped to a series of characters; a
         | letter, a grouping (such as 'sh' or 'ing'), or a complete
         | phrase. Using such a system would allow one motion, for example
         | for 'b', to map to a whole word, such as 'be'. Something as
         | simple as that would reduce your risk of injury by something
         | like 50%.
         | 
         | A major difference between stenography and typing is that steno
         | is chorded: the signal is sent when the keys are released, not
         | when they are depressed. I'm not sure how that would work with
         | the full body.
         | 
         | Check out the OpenStenoProject for more about steno. Their
         | community would probably enjoy discussing a full body steno
         | theory (if they haven't already) .
         | 
         | Take care and thanks for all the effort that went into
         | producing the video! It was a lot of fun :)
        
           | BrandoElFollito wrote:
           | Completely unrelated, but your comment about stenography
           | reminded me how our French president announced the COVID
           | lockdown. It was a speech full of key information (some I
           | could not hear because when he announced that the schools
           | would close children erupted in yells) but that was not the
           | best part.
           | 
           | The best part was that the speech was also signed for the
           | deaf (that part was normal) and subtitled by a ..., well, ...
           | stenography trainee.
           | 
           | He or she had all wrong, could not keep the speed, was mixing
           | words and skipping whole parts. At some point they seem to
           | have said to themselves "oh fuck it" and were typing more or
           | less random words.
           | 
           | The whole country was with them, hoping that they will go on
           | typing until the end (which they did). That was a memorable
           | event and people actually learned about stenography and the
           | fact that they apparently use a special keyboard in the form
           | of a butterfly.
        
           | varjag wrote:
           | Can't code with that.
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | Interesting, I wonder if you could make a BodyChord or
           | FaceChord setup using steno... Can you actually _write code_
           | using a steno keyboard - as in, full access to all the usual
           | symbols and modifiers - or would it just be for letters and
           | basic punctuation?
        
             | michaelmior wrote:
             | There are plenty of chorded keyboards that are programmable
             | enough to allow use of whatever symbols you want or need
             | when programming.
             | 
             | The Charachorder One is one example
             | 
             | https://www.charachorder.com/products/charachorder-one
        
             | zeta0134 wrote:
             | Yes! Here is a really great talk on the state of doing so,
             | with a fantastic realtime demo near the end. Mirabai live-
             | codes using her Plover setup and narrates her thought
             | process as she types out each command.
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpv-Qb-dB6g
        
               | 1-more wrote:
               | I saw her at a keyboard meetup in NYC. She blew my mind
               | with her vim setup: chords representing commands meant
               | that the keystrokes didn't exactly matter: you could have
               | the chord represent an arbitrarily annoying set of
               | keystrokes and have a correspondingly complicated vimrc
               | to handle them. Very cool!!
        
               | fheisler wrote:
               | Amazing! The spoken demo reminds me of Victor Borge's
               | Phonetic Punctuation. This would be such a great way to
               | spend so much time getting slightly more efficient...
        
         | markstos wrote:
         | I'll keep this mind the next time I'm stuck on a burning
         | rooftop and trying to communicate with the rescue chopper. I
         | only hope the pilot understands Semaphore!
        
         | hypernovawebant wrote:
         | I'm actually already working on exactly that -- after trying it
         | out on a couple of mini-games such as
         | https://github.com/mristin/pop-that-balloon-desktop,
         | https://github.com/mristin/cactusss-desktop and
         | https://github.com/mristin/ski-leu-desktop.
         | 
         | Please let me know if you want to join forces! You can find my
         | contact information at: https://github.com/mristin.
         | 
         | I figured that I don't mind my kids playing computer games as
         | long as they move. The first stage for me is to find a workable
         | approach to DOS games. In particular, I thought about adapting
         | ski-leu to race games such as Outrun & ilks.
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | Excellent, I'll reach out! Your balloon game looks a bit more
           | like my face keyboard interface:
           | https://github.com/everythingishacked/CheekyKeys#readme
        
             | pl90087 wrote:
             | For some idea sourcing, you guys could consider mapping to
             | musical notes as well. Then each melody maps to a
             | particular dance.
        
               | fheisler wrote:
               | Hmm like a camera-based full-body theremin?
        
           | somethoughts wrote:
           | >> I figured that I don't mind my kids playing computer games
           | as long as they move.
           | 
           | These could also be of interest for inspiration as well -
           | basic idea this Youtuber is doing is to use console gamer
           | joystick re-mapper hardware to convert joycon acceleration
           | readings to button presses/button combos.
           | 
           | Can you Lose weight by playing Breath of the Wild? - Ringfit
           | Controller Mod Explained Version
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYn3pWXMPF8
           | 
           | - Today we talk about the Ringfit Adventure controller mod
           | for Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With this mod you can Exercise
           | and play BotW at the same time.
           | 
           | I made a Ring Fit Adventure Mod for Mario Kart - Controller
           | Bending
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNZSfunw85A
           | 
           | - Today on Controller Bending we mod the Ring fit controller
           | to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with. With this Ring-con mod you
           | have to run to drive. Literally. Squeezing the ring-con
           | activates items!
           | 
           | I'd imagine a lot of similar mods could be done via computer
           | vision instead of using joycon accel readings.
           | 
           | I think the key would be to show up to a gaming console as a
           | PS4/XBox controller instead of just a keyboard. I think there
           | are Python libraries to do this [1] or just stick to Steam
           | games that just need WASD controls. This allows you to tap
           | into already huge library of high quality games and just
           | focus on the OpenCV movement-> joystick button remapping
           | part.
           | 
           | [1] Something like this - although it might be Windows only
           | https://pypi.org/project/vgamepad/
        
         | major505 wrote:
         | I wish this existed 20 years ago when I done my college
         | capstone project. It would be great present this to the
         | examination board
        
         | VikingCoder wrote:
         | Have you found or implemented a "reader"?
         | 
         | Imagine teaching some ML your personal body movements, and then
         | you could have it transcribe text into Semaphore-output video
         | (or live rendering)... At least well enough that Semaphore-
         | input could read it?
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | I started building a super simplified version of something
           | like this to help me practice flag semaphore, but ended up
           | learning the alphabet a lot faster than finishing that script
           | :o)
        
         | gorjusborg wrote:
         | Your project (especially the video) made my life a little
         | brighter. Thank you for putting it out there, and having a
         | sense of humor :)
        
         | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
         | I loved this! Should be customizable so that twerking also
         | allows you to double letters :)
        
       | jxf wrote:
       | Completely impractical and completely wonderful fun. Thank you
       | for your work, OP! I love seeing projects full of joy, mischief,
       | and wonder for the power of computing.
        
       | sethammons wrote:
       | I was lamenting the use of "semaphore" but wikipedia supports
       | them:
       | 
       | > Semaphore (lit. 'apparatus for signalling'; from Ancient Greek
       | sema (sema) 'mark, sign, token', and Greek -phoros (-phoros)
       | 'bearer, carrier')[1] is the use of an apparatus to create a
       | visual signal transmitted over distance.
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore
       | 
       | I was only familiar with:
       | 
       | > [A semaphore] is a variable or abstract data type used to
       | control access to a common resource by multiple threads and avoid
       | critical section problems in a concurrent system.
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_(programming)
        
         | jxramos wrote:
         | same here with my initial first take on the name. I was doing a
         | internet search for something recently and realized this spirit
         | of taking an existing word and deliberately overloading it in a
         | different context rather than coining a new term with a
         | distinct phonemes is slowly mucking up our language to
         | disambiguate by keywords alone. It's hard work to invent new
         | words and I get it can slow the adoption or recognition of
         | something if the name hasn't been settled yet and it's tempting
         | to just skip over that whole process by leapfrogging out of the
         | mental wrestling by coopting an existing word and append a new
         | definition to it.
         | 
         | Earlier in life I used to lament the lack of uniqueness to
         | words and the existence of synonyms but later began appreciate
         | the overlap because having the ability to talk about something
         | with a variety of phonemes seemed to help create some
         | conceptual distance in a conversation that was otherwise
         | obscured by close sounding words.
         | 
         | But this almost lazy reuse of existing words, I'm still not
         | sure how I feel about it now that I'm aware of its costs.
        
         | acomjean wrote:
         | Semaphore flags were for communication between ships.
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_semaphore
         | 
         | Or if your Monty python restaging whuthering heights
        
           | TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
           | Still are, as far as I'm aware.
           | 
           | Smoke signals are literally the oldest known semaphore, and
           | fire is recorded to have been used to telegraph signals over
           | 700km per hour in the Byzantine Empire.
        
         | DougBTX wrote:
         | In particular, Flag Semaphore:
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_semaphore
        
         | beardyw wrote:
         | I learnt it as a cub scout. Or at least I think I was supposed
         | to. Don't remember getting a badge.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | It is still in the books as one of the optional activities
           | you can do. If you do it depends on the leaders of the pack.
           | I've seen it in my kids books, but we never did that page.
        
         | perilunar wrote:
         | Knowing about programming semaphores but not visual semaphores
         | seems quite bizarre to me. A bit like thinking flag or register
         | or stack were only computer terms.
        
           | getcrunk wrote:
           | Yea, like many computing terms are normal words now being
           | used as jargon
        
             | perilunar wrote:
             | I'm struggling to think of _any_ computer terms that aren
             | 't repurposed 'normal' words, initialisms, acronyms, or
             | portmanteaus. Even the words 'computer', 'program' and
             | 'code' are repurposed.
        
               | rdlw wrote:
               | Foo?
        
               | carapace wrote:
               | "thunk"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunk
               | 
               | Ah but it says, "The term originated as a whimsical
               | irregular form of the verb think." but without citation.
               | Hmm, I dimly recall some hacker wag saying something
               | like, "it's the sound of a continuation hitting the
               | stack"...
               | 
               | Maybe "plonk" counts?
               | https://en.everybodywiki.com/Plonk_(Usenet)
        
           | __MatrixMan__ wrote:
           | I don't know if they're on HN yet, but there's a generation
           | for which "writing to disk" has nothing to do with disks of
           | anything.
        
             | zamnos wrote:
             | Depends on when you want to define "nothing to do with
             | disk" as. M.2 was introduced in 2013 which would make them
             | 9 years old by now, but if we look at Samsung's 2006 PATA
             | SSD (with 32GiB!), then they'd be 17 and could well be on
             | here.
        
           | lta wrote:
           | I figure it's quite common for non native speaker, no ?
        
             | anthomtb wrote:
             | I am a native English speaker and never heard the word
             | "semaphore" until taking CS classes in college. I cannot
             | think of a common use for the term, unlike flag (see them
             | all the time), register (do that with cars and schools) or
             | stack (lots of those in my kitchen).
        
               | perilunar wrote:
               | > register (do that with cars and schools)
               | 
               | I would think computer register comes from the noun, not
               | the verb -- think cash register, not to register a car.
        
               | theandrewbailey wrote:
               | Or the covering of an air vent in a house.
        
               | anthomtb wrote:
               | I agree, I was just trying to think of how the word
               | "register" comes up in casual conversation.
               | 
               | I cannot think of a way that "semaphore" would come up in
               | non-nerd conversation at all.
        
             | __MatrixMan__ wrote:
             | Even as a native speaker, I had been using the programming
             | concept for a few years before I discovered the signaling
             | doohickey.
        
               | lkbm wrote:
               | I only knew about non-computer semaphores from the
               | Swallows and Amazons books (which are from the 1930s and
               | 1940s). If my mom hadn't read those books to me as a
               | child, I don't know that I'd have come across the
               | concept.
               | 
               | "Token ring" is something I learned in networking, and
               | the Wikipedia article doesn't mention railroads at all. I
               | assume that's where the term comes from, but I only heard
               | about railway signalling tokens decades later. (I think
               | they may have appeared in the Thomas the Tank Engine
               | stories on Shining Time Station, but I was quite young at
               | the time.)
        
         | rfmoz wrote:
         | In this case, the term semaphore is equivalent to optical
         | telegraph.
         | 
         | The separation isn't completely clear, but take a semaphore
         | like a basic tool that produces signals with a strong
         | predefined signification, like a red light in a highway traffic
         | light. The optical telegraph have a basic signification on
         | their symbols, like letters or numbers, but a wide range of
         | meanings, like the message transmission.
         | 
         | Take a look to the wikipedia information:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_telegraph
        
         | shakow wrote:
         | And the programming semaphore comes from the semaphore used as
         | train signal to ensure that two trains are not using the same
         | track segment simultaneously.
        
           | surfsvammel wrote:
           | Semaphores are also used on shooting ranges.
        
         | julian_t wrote:
         | Yes! Here's a real life example:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatley_Heath
        
         | cassianoleal wrote:
         | The Portuguese and Spanish word for it, semaforo, is what
         | traffic lights are called at least in parts of Latin America.
         | 
         | I always interpreted the programming meaning as that - traffic
         | lights.
        
           | kzrdude wrote:
           | Moving arms also predate traffic lights for the same function
           | - see trains
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_semaphore_signal
        
           | gpderetta wrote:
           | It is the same in Italian (semaforo).
        
           | alberto_ol wrote:
           | And also in Italy (semaforo) and I think in Romania (semafor)
        
         | Lolaccount wrote:
         | How I understand "semaphore"
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VFnDxRc_wU
        
       | LoveMortuus wrote:
       | I wonder if there are any good keyboards that are part of
       | trousers, but that are also hidden, you know not immediately
       | obvious that you've got a keyboard on your trousers.
       | 
       | Then you could have a computer in the pocket or a bag and a HUD!
       | That could be very cool!
        
         | banana_giraffe wrote:
         | I had a coworker write a little app to vibrate with Morse code
         | at incoming messages, and turn the entire screen into a single
         | button that he could tap out replies.
         | 
         | It worked well enough.
        
         | flir wrote:
         | I thought you were just pleased to see me.
        
         | daliusd wrote:
         | You can integrate 30% or smaller wireless keyboard (with
         | Elite-C) in your trousers IMHO. This would address "good" part
         | (think something like this https://www.tzcl.me/blog/rae-dux but
         | without PCB and wired using wires). At least I use adux
         | keyboard of similar size daily. Or you can go even smaller with
         | something like this https://artsey.io/ but I am not sure if
         | this could be considered good. Next part would be concealing it
         | - kailh low profile are too high IMHO for pants. There are
         | switches that are even lower but most probably this might not
         | work. I guess captive touch sensors might be solution but I am
         | not sure if they would work well as keyboard. I guess some art
         | would help concealing as well.
         | 
         | Still I don't feel this would be really comfortable to type on.
        
           | flir wrote:
           | Just as an fyi, that second device is a chorded keyboard. I
           | only mention it because the name's not on the page.
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard
        
       | serf wrote:
       | the only keyboard that requires supportive underwear rather than
       | a palm rest.
        
       | rcarmo wrote:
       | Looks exhausting, but loved the exclamation marks!
        
       | alex-moon wrote:
       | Every now and again I try and explain to non-coders why a
       | software engineer might build something "just to see if I can" -
       | and that a lot of the software they use probably started out as
       | such. The video captures that so well!
        
       | pcthrowaway wrote:
       | Missed an opportunity to do YMCA
        
         | kieto wrote:
         | https://youtu.be/h376W93gQq4?t=160
        
         | microbass wrote:
         | It's in the video.
        
       | darylteo wrote:
       | And a new speedcoding e-sport is born!
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | kieto wrote:
       | The YouTube video is even funnier: https://youtu.be/h376W93gQq4
        
         | jonplackett wrote:
         | I wonder how long it took to learn the actions.
         | 
         | A dance revolution style tutorial would be fun
        
           | fheisler wrote:
           | It only took me a couple days to learn all the signals and
           | work out the modifiers, but about ten days of ~an hour a day
           | after that of speeding things up. Maybe I'll make my own
           | instructional 80s workout video for it...
        
             | jonplackett wrote:
             | I think you could turn this into a game - Dance Hero or
             | something. With a ridiculous storyline where you have to
             | send signals with the power of dance to save the world
        
               | tough wrote:
               | I dig it, send signals to the aliens asking for a rescue
               | with the only Fatline capacitator left in earth which
               | happens to only take dance inputs
        
               | jonplackett wrote:
               | It practically writes itself!
        
         | Mxbonn wrote:
         | The part where he jumps to repeat a letter is both smart and
         | funny to watch. Indeed, highly recommended watching the full
         | video!
        
         | cycomanic wrote:
         | I can't believe he only has ~1.5k subscribers, he's absolutely
         | hilarious! I highly recommend everyone to watch that video.
        
           | vamega wrote:
           | I subscribed, the humor convinced with the execution here is
           | what I could do with more of!
        
           | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
           | That blew me away, too. Most of his videos have under 1000
           | views. How is that possible?
        
         | amadeuspagel wrote:
         | The way that the "hello world" in the youtube video is synced
         | with music made me think that it would be awesome to make music
         | this way, to translate the body movements to sound. A kind of
         | reverse dancing -- rather then dancing to the music, the music
         | would be created to your dance.
        
         | madeofpalk wrote:
         | The short shorts were not required, but appreciated
        
           | bartvk wrote:
           | And the '80s style sweatbands, genius.
        
         | HopenHeyHi wrote:
         | He mentions Semaphore signaling was invented by Claude Chappe
         | and then proceeds to make fun of him for being French which I
         | don't find acceptable.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | samanator wrote:
           | I rewatched that part of the video and don't see where he
           | made fun of him. Are you referring to when he mentions that
           | Claude Chappe was "big-brained" and zooms in on his head? If
           | so, that sounds like a compliment to me.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | worthless-trash wrote:
             | "Big brain" is definitely a compliment, I can support this
             | use of terminology.
        
             | HopenHeyHi wrote:
             | I accidentally a word
        
           | mikrotikker wrote:
           | Don't surrender your emotions to jokes.
        
         | FredPret wrote:
         | This video is worth a watch just for the 1-second YMCA section.
         | 2:43
        
         | thrdbndndn wrote:
         | He didn't show his real SSN, right?
        
         | ToDougie wrote:
         | This video was a great way to start my day!
        
         | munchler wrote:
         | "My glutes were burning from having had to file my taxes
         | earlier."
         | 
         | Definitely a brand new sentence.
        
           | FredPret wrote:
           | Surprising since tax season makes my glutal area hurt every
           | time
        
         | stronglikedan wrote:
         | Serious Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio vibes!
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HJexftddVw
         | 
         | EDIT: I just realized that it's the same guy behind this gem,
         | that I randomly ran across a few months back!
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q-BQ2Q_pqI
         | 
         | (I Made a Remote Lie Detector to Test Zuckerberg's Pulse)
        
           | FredPret wrote:
           | This guy needs to be famous. ~150 likes on this video. It
           | should be a million!
        
             | fheisler wrote:
             | Thanks! Today has certainly been a good jumpstart :)
        
       | timetraveller26 wrote:
       | This is so cool. Any idea of the state of the art to do this with
       | hand gestures? I wanted to do something like this but in the
       | style of the Naruto seals used to perform ninjutsu.
        
         | fheisler wrote:
         | I've seen lots of examples of interpreting sign language, but
         | not general/customizable gestures. Should be very doable
         | though!
        
       | markus_zhang wrote:
       | Finally mom won't worry about my health anymore! Programmers we
       | dance to program! That's a lot of calories burned I think.
        
       | elif wrote:
       | Please consider support for emacs chording with Ctrl and
       | meta/alt.
       | 
       | Perhaps DDR-esque foot placement?
        
       | 1-6 wrote:
       | A solution looking for a problem indeed!
        
       | fsiefken wrote:
       | You could get a slight speedup by matching letter frequency with
       | easiest/fastest semaphore, similar as to morse code and dvorak
       | typing do it. You loose compatibility with the rest of the world
       | though, but if you are only using it for personal typing it's not
       | a problem. You could also do a braille mapping instead of using
       | semaphor so braille readers can get a workout.
       | 
       | A good way to play interactive fiction games: X, I, U, D, N, S,
       | W, E, Z, OPEN, CLOSE, GIVE, ASK/TELL ABOUT
       | https://www.microheaven.com/ifguide/step3.html
        
       | ashton314 wrote:
       | And I thought I had RSI...
        
       | bealuga wrote:
       | I love this oh my god.I didn't know what I was expecting by a
       | "full body keyboard", but I'm sold.
        
       | radiorental wrote:
       | I'm reusing this for our next hackathon, this will be an awesome
       | & fun way to write PromQL queries
        
       | neom wrote:
       | I couldn't figure out why he was wearing all the French gear, the
       | author isn't french...! I presume it's a nod to the Frenchman,
       | Claude Chappe, who invented Flag semaphore, the system he build
       | it with. @fheisler, if you happened to see this, please let me
       | know if I'm right! :)
        
         | fheisler wrote:
         | Hm which gear was particularly French? I was just channeling
         | 80s aerobics workout in the intro, or the style of the songs
         | played in the video.
        
           | failrate wrote:
           | Your wristbands look like the French flag.
        
             | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
             | And the Netherlands flag, so...
        
               | fheisler wrote:
               | [dead]
        
           | neom wrote:
           | In the gif on your github, all the "workout" gear colours are
           | blue white and red, the colours of the French flag. If it was
           | a happenstance, maybe you can just say it was on purpose,
           | so...er.. I don't need to tell my therapist I'm reading too
           | much into everything again?
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | rodelrod wrote:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flags_with_blue,_red,
             | _...
        
       | harrylove wrote:
       | There's probably quite a few kindergartens that could benefit
       | from having something like this installed.
        
       | fencepost wrote:
       | If you haven't done so already, see if you can connect with
       | someone on the music side, particularly someone used to working
       | with programmable sound buttons. The combination of your setup
       | plus programmed sound macros could result in something
       | fascinating.
        
         | mft_ wrote:
         | It could certainly be used to trigger samples, combined with a
         | looper[0][1]?
         | 
         | [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vBwRfQbXkg
         | 
         | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc_SlqwtUXI
        
       | smokel wrote:
       | This reminded me of the esoteric programming language Bodyfuck
       | (2010) by Nik Hanselmann:
       | 
       | http://nik.works/project/bodyfuck/
        
       | waltbosz wrote:
       | Cool project. I've always wanted to learn the semaphore alphabet,
       | and I'm interested in alternative keyboards.
       | 
       | The lifeguards at the beach I visit use it to communicate to each
       | other from between lifeguard stands, and I'm always curious what
       | they saying.
       | 
       | Plus, I thought it would be fun to be able to communicate with
       | them in their own secret(ish) language.
        
         | kqr wrote:
         | It's highly likely they are communicating in a shorthand that
         | isn't meaningful to you even if you could read the individual
         | letters!
        
       | user3939382 wrote:
       | Reminds me of the (was it family guy?) parody of the
       | starship/trek captain who makes crazy contortions as he speaks.
        
       | insane_dreamer wrote:
       | Genius! Next up: Oauth plug-in so you can authenticate with your
       | own unique "dance". Reminds me of the OA.
        
         | fheisler wrote:
         | Ooh yes, I wonder if you could use it like gait recognition to
         | define your own not-easy-to-replicate motion. My dance is my
         | password...
        
           | worthless-trash wrote:
           | I can imagine banks using this as 2FA for the next
           | generation.
        
       | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2023-04-12 23:00 UTC)