Google Japan built a conveyor-belt keyboard: you don't reach for the keys, the keys come to you. Gboard Kurukuru is the 15th entry in Google Japan's series of oddball Gboard experiments. Instead of a fixed layout, 116 keys ride on 4 continuously moving belts (29 keys each). Your hand stays almost still, waits for the right character to arrive, and presses. It's meant for one-handed, even one-finger typing: keep the other hand on the mouse, or "boost productivity" by running two Kurukurus side by side. Typing turns into a timing game. It's not a product you can buy. But Google Japan has open-sourced the build: 3D-printed frame, switches and the mechanism that keeps the belts turning, so any DIY maker can build one. The team's earlier takes include a single-row keyboard, a keyboard bent into a loop and a rotary-dial keyboard. Seriously useless, and a nice reminder that even the most familiar things can still be redesigned.
