Note
This product has been discontinued and Lernstift start up has closed its shop.
Everything is going “smart way” these days. Smart phones, smart TVs, smart cars (not The Smart car) and of course we have list of smart watches coming in 2013. An addition to the list of these smart gadgets is smart pen. German start-up Lernstift is working on one such innovative gadget that you can use to write on paper, on air or virtually any surface. And at the core of this smart pen lies an embedded Linux system. But before going to the technology behind, let us first take a look at the features of Lernstift.
What does Lernstift smart pen do?
It’s a digital pen that recognizes spelling and grammatical mistakes and warns you by a mild vibration. It does not require a surface to write anything on. Which means you can literally write on air. You can sync everything you write with Lernstift on your smart phone. Awesome way of taking notes. And if you want to improve your handwriting, Lernstift can help you do that as well.
It has two writing modes, Calligraphy and Orthography mode. In Calligraphy mode the smart pen vibrates once if a letter is illegible. In Orthography mode, it vibrates once for spelling mistake in a word and twice for a grammatical mistake in a sentence.
You can use this pen as a fountain pen, ballpoint pen or pencil by replacing its tip. Initially, Lernstift will support only English and German but the company plans to add more languages to kitty.
What’s inside Lernstift smart pen?
As stated earlier, Linus is at the heart of this gadget. Altogether it contains motion sensor, processor, memory, Wi-Fi and vibration module fitted in a way to give it the shape of a regular pen. It seems to be AA battery operated. No other information is available at present about the battery life etc. As explained by Lernstift:
The sensor used in Lernstift is a state-of-the-art motion sensor that combines gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer technology. It calculates the pen’s 3D movements and generates 2D vectors. The sensor delivers a resolution of approx. 400 dpi at 200 Hz. The handwriting recognition engine requires only 100 dpi at 50 Hz. Hence, plenty of sensor power!
The initial price is supposed to be around 130-150 Euro when it goes in production next year. As of now, you can support it on Kickstarter by donating to the project, similar to $100 supercomputer Parallella. And if you donate around $150, you will be among the first few to get your hands on the first shipment (coming by the end of this year). What you think of Lernstift? Is it an idea good enough for you to buy one? Do share your views.
