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:
- It's more compact, which makes it easier to transport.
- 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.
- 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.
- It's hotswappable. It's also QMK compatible.
- 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.
