Fujitsu Gesture Keyboard for tablets and smartphones works from existing camera

Fujitsu used the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona to show off a tablet keyboard concept that makes do without the keyboard itself.

A couple of years ago, Pocket-lint told you about the Light Touch projector that turned any desktop into a virtual keyboard, but the Fujitsu Gesture Keyboard goes one better - you don't need any extra hardware at all.

It is a software-based solution that uses the camera in your own device, whether that be a tablet or smartphone. You will need to prop the device up somehow - often upside down, depending on where the lens is situated - and you'll need a well-lit environment, but all the magic is done by the application.

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Basically, the Gesture Keyboard tracks your fingers and, using the contours of your hands, estimates where the horizontal Qwerty keypad is based. It uses a machine learning technique to determine tapping positions based on a number of factors. First, your finger start positions are important as depth is taken into account. And half the keyboard is assigned to each hand.

It can take a bit of getting used to, as the keys are not projected on to the desktop. Instead, you get a visual representation on screen, with the keys you are currently hovering over with your fingers appearing in an augmented reality sense.

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Basically, it really helps if you can touch type. And even then, there will be differences and new skills to learn.

At present, the Fujitsu Gesture Keyboard is a technology concept. But Pocket-lint was told that it will be brought to market some time in the near-ish future. It is not known which operating systems the software will run on, but considering that Fujitsu makes Android and Windows 8 tablets, they will probably be the best bet - initially, at least.