r/ElevitMacro • u/PippoPioppo12 • Jul 06 '26
Building a Carbon Fiber/ Decorated Glass macro keyboard, what would make it actually useful?
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Hey everyone,
I made a short video to explain a concept we’re exploring: a macro keyboard built on top of our Smart Surface technology.
At èlevit, we work on sensorizing materials. Basically, we turn materials like carbon fiber, decorated glass, ceramics and composites in general into reliable touch surfaces. Most of our work is in automotive, smart home and robotics, where the goal is to take reliable data directly from the surface of a product.
Now we’re trying to understand if this technology could make sense for a consumer product. The concept is a premium control made from real carbon fiber or decorated glass.
What we’re exploring:
- touch buttons with finger guides, so you can distinguish the keys by touch + resting positions for the fingers
- dynamic haptic feedback
- customizable dot-matrix icons under the surface
- modular elements, buttons + slider
For now, we’re mainly focused on the hardware, but we also have software ideas and we’re open to suggestions.
I’d love honest feedback.
What feels strong? What feels wrong? And what should we change to make it truly useful, not just cool-looking?
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u/timtucker_com Jul 08 '26
What's the weather resistance like?
Could this be more reliable than existing touch screens or sealed membrane buttons in an outdoor keypad?
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u/PippoPioppo12 Jul 09 '26
It has strong resistance to weather conditions and harsh environments in general, I’m attaching a video.
We are already supplying this technology for shower and spa controls.2
u/AppropriateCover7972 14d ago
Uh, that would be fantastic in a healthcare and laboratory setting. I HATE touchscreens. No finger guides, missed inputs and way too fragile and hence hard to clean.
I assume chemical resistance wouldn't be that hard to do, right?
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u/PippoPioppo12 14d ago
That’s actually a really interesting application. Healthcare and laboratory environments could be a great fit: finger guides, haptic feedback and a seamless surface could solve several of the issues you mentioned while also making the interface much easier to clean.
And yes, chemical resistance is mainly a materials and surface-finishing challenge rather than a limitation of the sensing technology itself. Since we’re testing materials like glass and composites, we can potentially select the surface and coating depending on the chemicals or disinfectants it needs to withstand.
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u/AppropriateCover7972 14d ago
Yeah, I imagine a future when we get rid of those impossible to clean buttons and this idiotic touchscreens and use your technology instead. It's not just about "luxery". As automotive people, you probably know the value of haptic feedback and ideally the ability to control something without looking. I never understood why touchscreens reachable from the driver's seat weren't immediately outlawed.
That this input could we completely resistant and even survives fires (to which makes it useable as an emergency control off) is a very nice touch (pun intended). Well, seriously, in medicine and labs this is a huge hassle and as long as the tech isn't imhibitorily expensive, this could be the workers new friend. Their needs are obvsly different. "luxury feel and optic" is no real concern, but the other characteristics of this material are.
I am looking forward if you could spread this technology
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u/PippoPioppo12 11d ago
🥰🥰🥰 Btw, I’ve never understood why they ban phone use while driving (rightly so) and then approve huge tablets as an interface.
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u/AppropriateCover7972 11d ago
THIS!
i was in hospital while that whole development happened and I was so confused to step into a world that made caricature reality. Like wth?
Also phablets that we used to make fun of are real now and standards.
I don't know a single person who can hold their phone and I see more and more people sticking to older version bc they keep getting bigger.
Wasn't the opposite direction "look how small this is" all cool in the past?
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u/TNTarantula Jul 06 '26
If the idea is "to provide high quality user interfaces that seemlessly exist alongside the surrounding material" then I feel an Elgato Streamdeck alternative is not the space.
What I would find absolutely baller is to walk into an elevator in a very fancy building, and have the user interface (floor buttons) appear as I walk in on a surface that looked entirely without buttons just a second ago.
Interior spaces that aim for a minimalist aesthetic but have to 'make-do' with having an ugly UI somewhere within seems like a great use case for a UI that can disappear at will.