robot[ink]
An internet-connected thermal printer that friends can send messages to.
robot[ink] is a fantasy project involving a thermal printer on the internet. The idea came out of my 2014 trip to Tanzania, when I wanted a way to send messages to my two-year-old daughter while I was away.
The original was a modified version of Adafruit’s Internet of Things Printer, where a simple Python script checked an IMAP mailbox and printed whatever arrived. I would send her short notes about what I was doing, along with little illustrations she could color in.
Future Plans
I have tentative plans to reboot it as a more general-purpose DIY project, where people can let others send messages to their printer. Rather than lean on Adafruit’s Python library, I’d like to rewrite it on Nerves, given how much I enjoy working in Elixir.