Google's Gboard team announced the "Gboard Kurukuru Version" on October 1st. This keyboard arranges keys on a conveyor belt, rotating them to bring the necessary keys within reach. The design blueprints have been released as open source.
Each belt features 29 keys, allowing direct input of both uppercase and lowercase letters. Since the keys themselves move, users can input text with one hand or even a single finger, without needing to make large movements with their arm or palm.
Why October 1st? According to Google's PR department, when asked, they explained that the "101" from the widely adopted "101-key keyboard" for PCs was reinterpreted as "October 1st." After the project was put on hold once in 2020, they considered a suitable date for a keyboard announcement and settled on this day.
While originally known as an April Fools' Day project series, it is no longer released on April 1st. According to a PR representative who confirmed with the team about the reason, it was "because we realized we weren't actually lying."
This marks the 15th installment of Google's "New Keyboard Proposals." This annual project, which takes seemingly outlandish ideas and develops them into actual working hardware, complete with public blueprints, is still going strong this year.
