loading
loading
Google Japan shows off wild conveyor-belt keyboard with keys that move to your fingers — 3D-printable Gboard features four belts with 29 keys each, built to make one-hand typing ‘easier’ There are no plans to release this keyboard, but you can make one yourself from official blueprints. Google Japan just showed off a quirky keyboard that has keys rolling on a conveyor belt to make typing “easier.” According to the company blog [machine translated], it built the Gboard Conveyor Belt Version so that the keys flow to your hand instead. That means you don’t have to move your fingers or arms as much, especially when you’re typing using a single hand. The keyboard comes with four belts, each containing 29 keys, making it quite “intuitive” to operate. The team behind it is also considering releasing various color variations, high-speed models, and even a shorter version for mobile devices. You can see the keyboard in action in the video below. This weird keyboard is the latest addition to the Google regional office’s annual tradition of releasing a new model every first day of October. The local subsidiary has previously released these quirky designs as an April Fool’s Day joke starting in 2012. However, in 2021, it switched the release on the first day of October, or 10.1, in reference to the 101-key layout popularized by the IBM Model M. These include the Gboard Dial Edition, which is reminiscent of the rotary phones of the 1960s (good luck hitting 100 words per minute with that keyboard), the Double-Sided Gboard, designed to be always right-side up no matter how you orient it, and the Gboard bar version, which places all the keys on a single row to make characters easier to find. But even though most of the funny designs aren’t meant to work in real life, the Google Japanese Input Physical Flick Version actually looked promising. All these models likely won’t make Tom’s Hardware’s best gaming keyboards or even best budget mechanical keyboards lists, but they’re still a good addition to any keyboard collection if you want to have something unique (but not necessarily practical) on display. The plans for the Gboard Conveyor Belt Version are available directly from GitHub, including 3D-printable STL files, KiCad schematics and PCB layouts, and the firmware source code and projects needed to build a working copy of the keyboard. The schematics for previous Google Japan keyboard designs are also available in the main directory, allowing you to build all these eccentric pieces in your free time. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. - zoltorgack Gboard is already the name of a tech product. The Google Keyboard for Android/iOS/iPadOS devices is called Gboard.Reply
document fetched 2026-10-05 02:55 · canonical https://tomshardware.com/peripherals/keyboards/google-japan-shows-off-wild-conveyor-belt-keyboard-with-keys-that-move-to-your-fingers-3d-printable-gboard-features-four-belts-with-29-keys-each-built-to-make-one-hand-typing-easier