Keebometer: viral typing speedometer

When I applied to work at MIRA (formerly Halo), part of my interview was to "build something, and ship it." Shipping hardware from your bedroom is hard, especially in 48 hours without many materials on hand.

I assumed that internet validation would be the hardest part of the challenge: most engineering projects don't achieve massive virality, and printed parts + an Arduino are a hard sell. Focusing on this, I found an idea worth pursuing after a few hours.

A few hours into that idea, I scrapped it. Finally, 12 hours in, I mocked up a speedometer I assumed would be well received by keyboard enthusiasts. Around 11:30pm, I started the print, and wrote firmware I'd be able to test in the morning.

The final product used a desktop app on my PC to send binary denoting when keystrokes (or the delete key) were pressed to an Arduino over serial, the Arduino had a rolling average WPM and stored a lifetime count of keypresses in EEPROM. Data was displayed with a servo press-fit into place, and an LCD screen 'odometer' for lifetime total keystrokes and deleted characters.

It was simple, but it worked reliably and the design was fun. Taking to social media, I posted on various platforms before deciding that reddit was the most engaged audience. The 'keebometer' reached #1 trending on r/MechanicalKeyboards (1.3 million followers), and I got a lot of messages from people interested in buying one.

The best result of this project though, was my offer to come work at MIRA. You can read more about my time there here.

I still have the reflection I submitted for the interview, you can watch it here, in all its poorly edited glory.