‘Tis the season to forget to sign cards, fa la la la la la.
The holidays are a weird time. A busy time. A relaxing time. A time where socks, once upon a time the worst gift, are now the best gift. But with all the holiday cheer, there’s always the nagging elders asking about cards—“thank you” cards, “here’s a gift” cards, all cards. Luckily, courtesy of two kids that are far smarter than I ever will be, there’s a new robotic machine to help us out with signing all those pesky cards. And it’s made from a familiar toy.
The Lego Mindstorms-powered Holiday Card Plott3r is an experiment made by two young brothers: 14-year-old Sanjay Seshan and 12-year-old Arvind Seshan. Lego Mindstorms is a programmable construction set by Lego for robotics, employing creators with miscellaneous sensors and motors to create robotic devices using the ever-buildable blocks of Legos.
The Holiday Card Plott3r is much like any old computer controlled plotter, except it’s resigned to three specific sketches: a snowflake, a festive tree, and it can even forge Ol’ Saint Nick’s signature. Whether your purpose for the buildable Lego machine is duping your kids into believing Santa isn’t just your pops in a pillow-stuffed jolly red suit, or just adding a pleasant touch to cards this year, potentially creating your own Holiday Card Plott3r is an activity not to be missed.
You can see a video of the Holiday Card Plott3r in action below.
