This is hilarious! But very practical. Buttons are a simple user interface to say one thing. And the phone call on the other side of the system is great.
Google's Paper Signals project allow for a more complex input: voice commands. https://papersignals.withgoogle.com/
I can see demand for tons of customized versions of both of these projects. The business model is broken though. Customized hardware or software is expensive. If you could build a cookie-cutter style app creator using emoji-style software blocks (for those with zero programming ability) and stick with off-the-shelf hardware from other creators (Amazon) or even Arduino kits, you could build a business model to support semi-custom products with a mix of hardware and software for many many uses.
I can't believe I haven't seen this. I consider myself pretty connected, I read HN and have a robust set of reddits and githubs. They should have done more press for this!
This is such a neat project. I want to get some paper signals going up at my house tomorrow. I just so happen to have a jar full of 30 microservos from a project that didn't work out and a couple of the same microcontrollers they are using sitting here... but still, papercraft + IoT. I really like it.
I like the idea of making paper signals for my development team related to sprints, epics, and other task countdown. I think there's something about it that would really make a difference in work.