Samsung, the front camera turns into a virtual keyboard

Developed by the Korean company's own idea incubator, the virtual keyboard can be implemented in any device.

The next event for electronics lovers is CES 2020 in Las Vegas, scheduled from January 7 to 10. And it is the event chosen by Samsung to present to the world some interesting innovations developed by its incubator, the C-Lab Inside.

C-Lab Inside is an internal idea incubation program, started in 2012, that encourages the development of innovative ideas by Samsung employees. The new C-Lab Inside projects to be unveiled at CES 2020 focus on a comfortable and healthy lifestyle. Among them will be "SelfieType," a virtual keyboard that uses the front-facing camera of smartphones or tablets along with quite a bit of artificial intelligence. It's not the first time such an idea has been seen, but Samsung believes SelfieType can be developed and become a solution to be integrated into its mobile devices.

How SelfieType Works

Unlike concepts seen in the past, which projected a keyboard onto a tabletop with a projector built into the device and picked up the user's finger movements, Samsung's SelfieType is totally virtual. Nothing is projected onto the table: the fingers move freely, are captured by the selfie camera, and artificial intelligence interprets the movements translating them into input from a QWERTY keyboard. This means that in order to use SelfieType, we'll have to already be good "typists" and know the keyboard almost by heart, but at the same time, SelfieType requires no additional hardware and is highly adaptable to different mobile devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets.

Samsung's other innovations at CES 2020

In addition to SelfieType, Samsung will bring other inventions from its C-Lab to CES 2020. Like Hyler, a smart highlighter pen that digitizes text printed on paper. Or Becon, a home care solution for scalp treatment and hair loss prevention. At CES we'll also see SunnySide, a full-spectrum window-shaped artificial sunlight (also useful for synthesizing vitamin D), and Ultra V, an ultraviolet sensor and monitoring service for integration into smartwatches and wearable devices.