Manic Episode 4: Idea #19 “Gripnote”

As I listed and detailed in this post about doing laundry as slowly as possible, I listed some problems that I regularly have when I am manic. This week’s idea is one that would require a lot of work and learning, software and hardware, but there might be something to it.

The problems that this idea could help me out with are #3, restlessness, and #4 racing thoughts. I wrote this idea out in the early phase of my episode, and I was still quite high, as the antipsychotic was still building up in my system to bring me down. As such, I ramble a bit in what I wrote about the idea, but I think this idea has some teeth, if I really want to give it a shot and develop the product.

Here’s what I wrote:

“Product Idea: One handed stimmy keyboard… can allow someone to take notes, or write back to texts without looking at their phone, or using voice commands, but incoming texts can be read out (probably best with headphones) (ANNES TYPING DICTATION SOFTWARE…?) that tells you what you are writing along the way…. THIS COULD JUST BE AN ASSISTIVE DEVICE for blind or non-speaking people, or people in the hospital or something???

At pitch, don’t even say a word, just run the words on to a screen (a wearable screen?) but also on the projector to show my typing …. a totally silent pitch …. or like a daftpunk scrolling marquee, lol??)

As I said, pretty all over the place. Here are some more sober thoughts about the idea, and how it could solve my problems.

Like all others who experience mania, I have too many thoughts in my head. This can help me get them out.

I need to get them out. When I can, I write them down, but it’s really hard to sit still and bang them out.

During my fourth manic episode, to deal with restlessness, I went on frequent walks around my neighborhood on a ~30 minute loop two or three times a day. But something that would happen on these walks is that I would still be under a barrage of ideas and I would need to get them out. The Notes app on my phone is where I would put them. So as to not put myself at risk of getting run over while crossing the street I would stop when I needed to so I could look down at my phone and jam out the idea. Then I kept walking.

What I really wanted during these walks was a one-handed, pocket-sized, keyboard that I could use, while walking, to get my ideas out, also without having to look down at my phone along the way.

There are some one-handed keyboards out there, but most of them are for gaming utility. They do not solve this specific problem of typing text on a phone, one-handed, without looking. Also, most of them are wired, to be used on desktops or laptops, not a phone. Maybe there is a market opportunity here?

Here are some initial ideas about how I would start the creation process of the product, and some of the features it should have.

What is it: A one-handed keyboard that allows users to quickly input notes, or other short text inputs, into their phone (or computer) without looking at the screen.

Basic design: A small, easily grippable, avocado-shaped module with five buttons, one for each finger.

Interface: By using input keystroke sequences like tapcode, or other such chords of multiple keys at once, users would be able to quickly learn how to input strings of letters/spaces. The device may or may not have a backspace/delete keystroke. The idea is to just be able to get ideas out quickly, making the sacrifice of accuracy for the sake of speed. The notes could then be reviewed, corrected, edited on the phone/computer later. This device is not for writing a dissertation, it’s just for jamming out ideas rapidly.

Programming: Given what I know about coding, I am fairly certain that I could write a very simple python program to accept the tapcode input and translate into the 25 english alphabetical characters it would require, as well as combos for the ‘spacebar’ and ‘delete’ keys. This might be a good zero-cost first step for me to take in the creation process. It would be easy to use as a basic demonstration to others about the idea, before I get myself mired in hardware considerations. I expect I would need some help with the hardware.

So how would I go about creating a hardware prototype? I think my first step would be to learn more about how to create and program an Arduino. I have heard from some engineering/computer science students that it is a pretty neat, simple, and flexible hardware device that can be programmed fairly easily without an electrical engineering background. I looked into it a little bit, and there are a ton of tutorials on SkillShare, as well as on YouTube, of course.

Hardware considerations: It would need to be able communicate with a phone via bluetooth. This would require a bit more specialized hardware. Luckily Arduino’s got me covered.

Could this product be a visually-impaired assistive device?

I have some other ideas about this project, but I’ll keep them to myself for now. This idea is a keeper, and may very well be the root of a future obsessive phase of mine. Time will tell.

See you next week!