Remotely Pressing Membrane Keyboard ON Button for 5 Seconds Using Servo or Actuator

Hello Everyone, I have an electronic device that I need to turn on and off remotely but they only have a membrane keyboard and the only way to turn on this device is to press for more than 5 seconds the ON button of the keyboard and to turn it off the same press the ON key for 5 sec.

Someone could suggest me how to act on this keyboard to perform the mechanical action of pressing it and turn on / off the equipment, I have been seeing the possibility of using, servos, linear actuators, endless screws, etc, but all of them except for the Servos occupy a lot of space or are relatively long, someone could suggest me to use.
Thank you

An easy way to simulate keyboard presses is to use an analog switch such as the CD4066 (which contains 4 analog switches) to press the key for you.  You will need to get access to the key contacts, which is not usually difficult if it is a matrix keyboard.  You can use an opto-isolator to activate the analog switch if your remote sognal cannot be commoned to your keyboard power rails.  A guy I knew made a device that dialled a number on a telephone keypad using this technique.  CMOS ICs like this work with supply from 3 to 18 Volts so should work with the supply of your device.  A 555 (or CMOS 7555) will generate your 5 second pulse.  This should not be difficult but reply back if you need any more advice on this.  It should work fine on membrane keyboards - they don't usually have low impedance or high current contacts so are ideal to work with analog switches.
If you cannot gain access to the innards of the keyboard you will have to find some sort 9f mechanical device to simulate a key press.  As you say servos are probably the best choice - they are geared and for their size can exert a reasonable force for your needs.  You may also be able to find a small solenoid to do the job, maybe with a suitable lever arrangement.  I found this on Element 14 (Farnell) - $15 cost, 5mm max stroke, it's a push type so can be applied direct to the keyboard, should be up to the job.Let us know how you go.  Cheers // David

David has covered the possible approaches to your request. I thought I should add, that depending on your level of expertise you may want to use a relay rather than the 4066. You can actually buy timer relays although they tend to be much more expensive than the IC approach David suggested.And down memory lane (as triggered by David's alternate suggestion)- in the early PC days when printers were expensive and normally dot-matrix, you used to be able to get a device that fitted over the keyboard of an IBM Selectric typewriter with a solenoid pin for each letter. Page feed was still manual though.

2 replies in 5 days ? This is not really a forum is it guys ?  I can easily get 1000 replies in 1 sitting on other tech forums