GM made a little video showing how its robots can wrap presents. The video doesn’t make it look as though robotic wrapping would increase efficiency at Santa’s workshop significantly, but it does make a point about the importance of industrial motion control.
If Santa’s elves let robots wrap those presents, the result would be more uniform than human wrapping can be, and there would be less waste of paper and tape. Energy savings wouldn’t be significant, and there don’t seem to be any health or safety issues presented by gift wrapping that could be solved by automating it, but the name tag is certainly spiffier than most.
In fact — does that name tag say “Scotty”? Could it possibly be heading my way? Hmmm…
Here’s wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year in 2013!