1960 Lotus Math Keyboard (Evan W, Evan M, Alex S)

Our goal is to enable kids with special needs to do math like any other kid.

- Key caps x 20 (Custom made, no link)

- Key switches x 20 (https://www.amazon.com/Gateron-KS-9-Mechanical-Typ...

- keyboard base (Custom made, no link)

- Keyboard wiring x 41 (1 male to male, 40 male to female. Can use any sauterable wire, but these also work: https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-EL-CP-004-Multicolor...

- Code

- Sautering gun

After getting dimensions of the switches, Evan M designed a 3D model of custom key caps. I watched instructional videos using Circuit Python and started working.

Start getting ideas of how we will go about doing things; What type of code will we be using? what will we use for the keyboard base? How will we make the key caps? Who will do what?

The original design of the keyboard was a blue base with red and yellow caps. The code was going to be a lot more complicated than it turned out to be.

Now that we know what to do and who's doing what, people will start doing their assigned task and watch related tutorials and get a better understanding of what they need to do to accomplish what they've been assigned to do.

People will check in with each other, giving progress updates and asking for any needed help.

The coding had a slow start, and we had a few problems with printing and designing the keyboard. The design shown above is the first design for the keyboard we thought of.

Start using what we have made so far to see if we can continue without worrying about functionality issues; is our project going to plan? Are the supplies faulty? Are there issues in the code? Is the design inconvenient?

The only main functionality issue is the delay when pressing a key. This issue is a struggle to fix.

After researching my problem, I imported a file into the pico (adafruit_hud.mpy; allowed character input functionality like any other keyboard) which allowed the code to function as I wanted it to.

We also printed 4 test key caps as shown above, which worked really well.

First attempts are bound to have issues. Search for any issues, fix them and continue.

While printing and coding, we found our first few issues;

- Keys don't always input

- Key caps too small

- Keyboard base weak

Evan M enlarged the key cap to key switch adapter and should work now.

We ended up having a few issues on delivery day, too; key caps were misprinted and the wires were too crammed to put the base on.

The final product shown at the presentations almost looked like a prototype, but it did have the functionality of a complete product. The wires made it look messy and the key caps missing didn't give it a very nice look.