> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.unknowndivide.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Google Japan's Gboard Conveyor Belt Brings the Keys to You - URL: https://www.unknowndivide.com/google-japan-gboard-conveyor-belt-keyboard/ - Published: 2026-10-06T01:21:19.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-06T15:57:28.000Z - Description: Google Japan's 15th concept keyboard puts 116 keys on four motorized belts that roll toward your fingers. It isn't for sale, but the files to build one are open source. - Author: unknowndivide staff - Tags: Design, Tech, #surfacing Concept keyboards usually exist to sell a lab's seriousness. A big company shows a rendering, talks about the future of input, and nothing you can touch ever leaves the building. Google Japan's Gboard team has spent sixteen years doing the opposite. Its new [Gboard Conveyor Belt Version](https://blog.google/intl/ja-jp/products/android-chrome-play/gboard-2026/?ref=unknowndivide.com), released October 1 and called the "kurukuru" version in Japanese, is not a product pitch, but a working joke you can build at home: four motorized belts that carry the keys past your fingers instead of asking your fingers to travel to them. The series began as an April Fools tradition. Google's Japanese input team released a Drum Set Version in 2010, then followed with Morse code, Magic Hand and Physical Flick editions, the last of which looked almost practical. In 2021 the team moved the release to October 1, a date chosen because 10/1 echoes the 101-key layout that so many desktop keyboards still use. The run since then has included a yunomi teacup, a single-row bar, a double-sided board and last year's rotary Dial Version. Google counts this year's entry as the fifteenth in the series. The premise is delivered with a perfectly straight face. The announcement argues that conventional keyboards assume two hands, so typing with one hand or one finger means dragging your arm across the board, and the fix is a Copernican turn: move the keyboard, not the arm. Each of the four belts carries 29 keys, which lets you enter upper and lowercase letters directly, and Google suggests your free hand could hold a cup of tea or run a mouse. Buy a second unit, the post adds, and two-handed productivity might follow. What makes the project worth your attention is not the gag, but the documentation. The [mozc-devices repository](https://github.com/google/mozc-devices?ref=unknowndivide.com) on GitHub holds 3D print files, KiCad schematics, board layouts and firmware for the recent entries, and the conveyor build guide is unusually specific. You print 18 part types, 157 pieces in total, including 116 belt links, then add 116 Kailh low-profile Choc switches and keycaps, a 6V N20 gear motor rated at 150 RPM, a DRV8833 motor driver and an ATOMS3 Lite controller. It is the same instinct behind repairable hardware like the [Framework Laptop 13 Pro](https://www.unknowndivide.com/framework-laptop-13-pro-closes-the-gap-between-repairable-and-refined/), applied to a punchline. The guide also contains the most quietly honest detail of the launch. It lists two editions. The Moving Keys Edition, the one documented today, circulates the keys on their belts, and its electronics list covers the motor, the driver and the controller. The Bluetooth Connection Edition, which the guide describes as the functional keyboard, is marked as coming soon. So the version you can build right now is mostly about the moving, with the typing still to come. In an industry that ships features before they work, that order of operations is almost refreshing. That is the argument Google Japan keeps making. Most keyboard design chases fractions of a millimetre in travel or a better-sounding switch, the way the [Norbauer Seneca](https://www.unknowndivide.com/the-norbauer-seneca/) treats the keyboard as a piece of fine furniture. The Gboard projects ask a stranger question, what if the layout itself moved, and then hand you the files so you can find out exactly how bad an idea it is. The announcement even floats color variations, a high-speed mode, a longer version for more characters and a short one for travel, all in the same deadpan register. There is no price because there is nothing to buy. Google says it has no plans to sell the Conveyor Belt Version and has published the design as open source, and the repository notes that it is not an official Google product. Your costs will depend on your printer, your filament and how many Choc switches you already own, so treat any build total you see online as unofficial. If you would rather type the old way, the regular Gboard app is free on Android and iOS, and the [project page](https://github.com/google/mozc-devices/tree/master/mozc-conveyorbelt?ref=unknowndivide.com) wryly bills it as the Gboard that does not come to you. [Read the build guide on GitHub](https://github.com/google/mozc-devices/blob/master/mozc-conveyorbelt/buildguide.md?ref=unknowndivide.com) · [Google Japan's announcement](https://blog.google/intl/ja-jp/products/android-chrome-play/gboard-2026/?ref=unknowndivide.com) Related: [The Nonlinear Labs C25 Is Built Around Your Hands](https://www.unknowndivide.com/the-nonlinear-labs-c25-is-built-around-your-hands/) · [Light Phone III](https://www.unknowndivide.com/light-phone-iii/) More in our [Desk & Everyday Carry hub](https://www.unknowndivide.com/desk-and-edc/).