Google Japan announces bizarre wearable keycap that actually works

Google Japan has revealed an open-source wearable keycap hat that actually works, in a bid to promote the Gboard app in the region. You can even build and print one yourself.

While Google might be coming hot off of the heels of the recent Pixel 8 announcement, the company’s Japan-based HQ has also been tinkering with creating some hardware of its own. Known for their hilarious marketing stunts, the company is back at it again, this time with a gigantic wearable keycap hat.

But, the tech inside the wearable keycap hat goes far beyond the scope of an odd-looking joke. One employee states: “This is a new vision for head-mounted devices”, in a tongue-in-cheek promotional video. But, despite its goofy looks, you actually have a fully functional keyboard that works.

The cap is controlled via Bluetooth, and you can select characters on your device by turning it, which uses the hat’s internal gyroscope. From there, you can press the top of the hat to enter the character, which is complete with 20mm of travel, there’s even an audible click. The hat runs on a relatively small battery and can be charged over USB-C.

You’ll have to build the Keycap hat yourself

Google will not be releasing the Gboard hat, instead, the company has chosen to open-source the project. You’ll need to equip yourself with a handful of electronic components, a 3D Printer, some MDF, and a whole lot of patience.

Running on an Arduino board, the keycap hat’s firmware is already built, and ready to compile, making it relatively easy to get up and running, once assembled. But, you might have to figure out the aesthetics of the board yourself.

Sadly, it can also seemingly only work using Google Japanese Input, so you might have to brush up on your language skills, to boot. It would be interesting to see a developer take the project, and fork a working English version, however. Needless to say, it might be the strangest keyboard I’ve seen for some time, but I doubt that I will be using it over this gorgeous boutique Alice layout keyboard any time soon.