Optimization of the keyboard arrangement problem using an Ant Colony algorithm

In order to solve the problem of the arrangement of letters on a computer keyboard, an abstract representation of a keyboard is introduced and an evaluation function taking account of ergonomic criteria is proposed. It results in a new optimization problem that we name the keyboard arrangement problem. Based on the generic framework of Ant Colony optimization, an algorithm is developed and applied to this problem. New effective keyboard arrangements are deduced for several languages. Comparisons are made with standard manually optimized keyboards. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.