You Can Hire a Robot to Handwrite Your Thank-You Notes

Expressing gratitude is part of being a good grown-up. Hand cramps … not so much. Now you can enjoy one without suffering the other, thanks to the Bond company’s note-writing robot.

Sonny Caberwal founded Bond in 2013 as a high-end gift service. As an add-on, he allowed customers to include a hand-written note with each purchase. But Caberwal soon realized that the notes were more popular than the presents themselves. He spent the following year working with tech wizards, roboticists, and calligraphers to develop a robot that could cleanly, consistently, and beautifully replicate the look and feel of human handwriting.

To order notes, users open the Bond app, choose a handwriting style, type in a message and address, and go watch some TV while a robot does all the work.

The service has been immensely popular with tech and social media companies. “What I’ve realized is that it’s not about who actually wrote the note,” Bond investor Geoff Bernstein told Bloomberg Pursuits. “It’s about showing the recipient how you feel about them, or whatever your message is.”

Caberwal agrees: “Inconvenience doesn’t make something more thoughtful.”

Still worried your recipients will be able to tell someone else did the heavy lifting? For a cool $1500, Bond will digitize your handwriting, make you personalized stationery, and allow you to send up to 125 notes (postage included) over the course of a year.