Google Japan Reveals a Conveyor Belt "Gag" Keyboard for One-Handed Typing

Google Japan has revealed the 15th entry in its joke keyboard series, the Gboard Conveyor Belt Version, and it is not a real product. The Gboard team used to publish these gag designs on April Fools' Day, and moved the tradition to October 1 a few years ago as a nod to 101-key keyboards. The device stands upright and carries its keys on four belts with 29 keys each. The belts keep rotating, so the user rests one hand at the base and presses each key as it rolls past. Waiting for each letter to come around, of course, makes it far slower than a regular keyboard, and that seems to be the whole gag. Google's tongue-in-cheek blog post even suggests building a second unit for two-handed typing. Color variants, a high-speed mode, and longer or shorter versions are said to be under consideration. As expected, there are no plans to sell it, and the project's GitHub page states that it is not an official Google product. The prank is at least meant to be buildable, as Google has posted 3D-printable STL files, KiCad board data, and firmware. The build guide lists 157 printed parts, 116 Kailh Choc V1 low-profile switches, an M5Stack AtomS3 Lite controller, and a single 6 V N20 gear motor that drives all four belts. The repository still looks unfinished, however. Only the motorized "Moving Keys Edition" is documented so far, while the board documentation and a "functional Bluetooth keyboard" edition are both marked as coming soon. It's not clear whether a fully working unit can be built from the files just yet, but it's a fun bit regardless. Read full story