I like to be celebrated. And over the relentlessness of lockdown, sometimes sending a single email felt like an achievement. I often thought I deserved a confetti blast to let me know that I’m the goodest girl and am doing the best job.

Maker Matty Benedetto needs his regular back-pats to get through the day and he doesn’t like to leave them to chance, so he created a smart confetti cannon to automate regular congratulations.

How does it work?

Every time someone places an order through his online store the cannon spews rainbow confetti all over his desk.

The cannon is built around Raspberry Pi 4, with a servo motor and a fan to throw out the confetti. It’s programmed to react to Shopify’s API, which counts each order coming in.

The Raspberry Pi watches out for a new order, and tells a small speaker to make a “cha-ching” sound. When that sounds out loud, the servo kicks in to open a tiny trapdoor to let the confetti out, and the fan does the dramatic bit of making sure it goes everywhere.

The main body of the confetti cannon is mostly 3D-printed parts fitted around a transparent tube that holds the confetti.

Matty’s next invention should probably be a Roomba for his desk that can handle keyboard-like terrain.

Are you into over-engineered unnecessary tech?

Subscribe to Matty’s YouTube channel Unnecessary Inventions to discover new ways to solve problems that don’t exist. Matty’s creations incorporate everything from 3D printing to sewing, mould making, woodworking and laser cutting.

We absolutely positively need this vibrating popcorn bowl that keeps you awake during movies. We also wouldn’t say no to this coat hook that pours you a shot. That’s just good customer service.