Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to I built four eight-foot-long handwriting robots
It's Friday, so I want to share one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on. A few years ago, I built four eight-foot-long handwriting robots. We wrote many thousands and thousands of addresses on our direct mail, and wrote personal messages for high value prospects.
This project showcases four eight-foot-long robots designed to produce handwriting. Built as a creative engineering feat, the robots translate digital input into physical handwritten output at a large scale. The work… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. I built four eight-foot-long handwriting robots launched in 2021; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1
Hey HN, I want to share a personal project: I made a tiny pen-plotted book for my wife. I did everything myself—drawings (with some help from Midjourney), plotting, cutting, and binding. I even used a 3D printer to make a helper tool. It's absolutely over-engineered, but I enjoyed it a lot. Multi-disciplinary projects, especially those with a physical output, are a lot of fun for me. The post covers the process in detail, but if you're interested in anything specific, let me know. Cheers!
2025 · muffinman.io · its alternatives →
- 2
Recently, we wanted to find a way to display Generative AI art in our office at Photoroom.
2023 · eliot.blog · its alternatives →
- 3
- 4
During the hype of llama.ttf months ago, I was speculating the potential of WASM shaper for even crazier purpose, one that fitter to a font shaper's duty -- to synthesize font at runtime. This project as proof-of-concept implements a synthesizer that generates and rasterizes handwriting-style font, backed by a super-lightweight RNN model (~14MiB).
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 5
Handwriting.io▲353Real handwriting without the pen – no robots, all software
2015 · its alternatives →
- 6
Generative art coded in p5.js and pen plotted using an AxiDraw V3/A3.
2023 · adamfuhrer.com · its alternatives →
- 7GR
Realistic handwriting generator. Convert text to handwriting using an in-browser recurrent neural network. Choose from various print and cursive styles. Customize the outputs and download as SVG.
2020 · calligrapher.ai · its alternatives →
- 8
Handwrytten▲41Real greeting cards, with your words written in pen by robot
2014 · handwrytten.com · its alternatives →
- 9
I'm enthralled with using pen plotters to make generative art. Last August at SIGGRAPH, I built an interactive experience for others to see how code can be used to make visual art. The linked blog post is my trials and tribulations of linking a MIDI controller to one of these algorithms and sending its output to a plotter, so that people may witness the end-to-end experience.
2024 · lostpixels.io · its alternatives →
- 10
- 11
How to Make a CHIP Robot. In this tutorial we walk you through how to build and make a C.H.I.P. robot with the $9 Computer.
2016 · dexterindustries.com · its alternatives →
- 12
- 13
You simply: 1. Connect your device. 2. Create a top-level `handwritten.blog` folder. 3. Every new notebook in that folder becomes a draft on https://handwritten.blog/ I hope this eventually obviates the need to look at the ugly upload interface you have to use to now upload your writing.
Jul 2026 · handwritten.blog · its alternatives →
- 14HC
Hi HN, I’ve been working on a small project that transforms handwritten notes into animated, shareable cards. While the create functionality isn’t live yet, I wanted to share a sneak peek by creating a handwritten Christmas card specifically for the HN community. I started thinking about this after seeing too many AI-generated cards, cookie-cutter email templates, and overly polished designs that lack any personal touch. A friend recently sent me a handwritten card in the mail, and I found it nice that he took his time to write a handwritten note. I wanted to capture that same feeling…
2024 · handwritten-card.vercel.app · its alternatives →
- 15
- 16
sketch-rnn model trained to write kanji.
2018 · otoro.net · its alternatives →
- 17
Released for Hangul Day 2026: how I collected 4,500 lines of handwriting with a smartpen, adapted Alex Graves
15d ago · hangul.ink · its alternatives →
- 18
Hexbot Robot Arm▲150All-in-one robot arm that turns your desktop into a workshop
2019 · kickstarter.com · its alternatives →
- 19
- 20
I’ve been working on a unique storybook designed to teach kids about how computers work, and I would love to get your feedback. Set 500 years in the future, the story follows two kids – one a robot, the other a human – as they explore the workings of what to them is ancient technology: our present-day computers. I’ve aimed to keep each story short and engaging, sprinkling in humor and illustrations to captivate young readers. As an open-source project, you’re also welcome to check out the source here: https://github.com/yong/lostlanguageofthemachines
2024 · lostlanguageofthemachines.com · its alternatives →
- 21IC
2020 · docs.google.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Hey HN, I built a tool that takes a photo or scan of your handwritten text and converts it into a stroke-by-stroke animation. The goal is to preserve the personal feel of handwriting while making it easy to share digitally. Here’s a short demo note if you want to see it in action: https://www.handwritten-cards.de/cards/ff8d6fe46e62fe48773f3... I’d love any feedback on whether you find this useful, potential features you’d like to see, or ways to improve the interface. It’s free to try, and I’m open to all suggestions. Thanks for checking it out!
2025 · handwritten-cards.de · its alternatives →
- 23
ShowYourWork▲73Upload a problem, get a handwritten solution
Dec 2025 · showyourwork.study · its alternatives →
- 24AF
TLDR: We built out an API for sending handwritten letters at https://www.handwrite.io/handwritten-notes-api Quick backstory: I was helping a small moving company build out some marketing automation as a side gig. We were ingesting housing data and as soon as a house went up for sale, we'd use lob.com to send a direct mail postcard letting the home owner know we'd love their business. But the postcards didn't convert well, and were super cliche so I went searching for something that might feel a little more personal. That's when I met my cofounder, Dan, here on Hacker News!…
2020 · its alternatives →
Also compare
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →