Circuit to Emulate PC USB Keyboard...

I want to build a circuit that will have a USB connection and plug into a PC and be seen as your normal USB keyboard. I want my device to be able to send keystrokes to the PC as if a user pressed the keyboard themselves. I have a microcontroller that will be sending the keystrokes based on inputs from a "controller".

I initially thought of hacking a keyboard to get the guts out, but this isn't a very elegant solution. I opened a couple different keyboards I had laying around and they all had a "dot" for a microcontroller/silicone, which leads me to think they had custom part made. Plus, I don't like the idea of soldering a bunch of wires to connect their "header" to my circuit - I'd like to have everything on my own PCB.

I thought there must be someone who makes an all-in-one IC that has a USB connection on one side and accepts a keyboard matrix on the other, but I can't seem to find one. The few I did find were microcontrollers themselves, and I don't want to learn to program another micro just for this function.

If anyone has heard of something that would do what I want, it'd be much appreciated.

Your idea of cannibalizing an old USB keyboard is the easiest.

If you do not want to use an existing keyboard controller then you must study the protocols used by the keyboards. Once you have that any USB enabled micro controller should do the job.

This is an appnote on the subject.

https://www.cypress.com/?rID=12991