Pad for supporting a user's wrists, lower arms, and keyboard while typing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Many keyboards are constructed with an angular shape that requires users to bend their wrists upward while typing, leading to chronic issues such as carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist strain, and decreased productivity.
Innovation Solution
A keyboard wrist rest that props up one end of the keyboard to create a level typing surface, featuring a soft pad with a shelf to support the user's lower arm and wrist, preventing wrist bending and providing comfortable, even support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If the keyboard is constructed with an angular shape, then the keyboard design is compact and space-efficient, but the user's wrist must be bent upward causing carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist strain
Solution Approach 1:
A wrist rest pad is introduced as an intermediary element between the user's wrist and the keyboard. This pad provides a supportive surface that compensates for the angular keyboard design, allowing the wrist to rest in a neutral position without bending upward, thereby preventing carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist strain while maintaining the compact angular keyboard shape
Solution Approach 2:
The wrist rest pad changes the physical parameters of the typing surface by adding depth (7 inches) and creating a shelf structure. This modifies the effective typing plane elevation, allowing the keyboard to be positioned at an angle while the wrist rests on a surface that maintains proper ergonomic alignment
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a wrist rest pad is added to support the wrist, then wrist strain is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wrist rest pad is constructed from a single piece of flexible foam material that is 2 inches deep. This simple, flexible structure provides the necessary support and comfort without complex mechanisms, joints, or assembly requirements. The flexibility of the foam allows it to conform to the wrist and lower arm while maintaining structural integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The wrist rest pad utilizes composite material construction with a foam core providing structural support and a fabric covering providing comfort and grip. This combination of materials achieves the dual function of structural support and ergonomic comfort in a single integrated component, avoiding the need for multiple separate parts
Data Source
AI summary
A pad for supporting a user's wrists, lower arms, and keyboard while typing has a support panel, a shelf, a supportive liner, and a textured liner. The support panel is a semi-rigid piece of flat material that has the supportive liner covering a top surface and the textured liner covering a bottom surface. The shelf is connected along one edge of the support panel so that the shelf can act as a riser that supports one end of the keyboard. The shelf and the support pad work in concert to create a sufficiently level typing surface for the user. As such, the user's wrists do not need to be bent while typing. Specifically, a height of the shelf is less than a height of the support panel. This configuration enables the typing surface of the keyboard to be placed coplanar to the top surface of the pad.