--- title: Tree-mounted machines connect to web app to let users... description: Knock On Wood is an internet-connected device that lets people perform the knock-on-wood superstition remotely when no actual wood is nearby. A web app lets... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/tree-mounted-machines-connect-to-web-app-to-let-users-knock-on-wood-remotely-mdkchifti twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Tree-mounted machines connect to web app to let users knock on wood remotely | daily.dev og:description: Knock On Wood is an internet-connected device that lets people perform the knock-on-wood superstition remotely when no actual wood is nearby. A web app lets... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/tree-mounted-machines-connect-to-web-app-to-let-users-knock-on-wood-remotely-mdkchifti og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/mDkChIFti.png og:image:alt: Tree-mounted machines connect to web app to let users knock on wood remotely og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Tree-mounted machines connect to web app to let users knock on wood remotely **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Knock On Wood is an internet-connected device that lets people perform the knock-on-wood superstition remotely when no actual wood is nearby. A web app lets users press a digital button to trigger a physical knocker in real time. The project is part of a series called Machines Responding to Superstitions by designers Shashwath Santosh and Nithin Eluvathingal. Each knocker connects to the internet and a central server, so someone in a Tokyo café can trigger a knocker in New York's Central Park using only a web browser. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 33 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-10-31). **TL;DR:** Reaction is overwhelmingly jokey and skeptical, with a flood of riffs imagining absurd 'as-a-service' versions of other superstitions, and only a few genuinely charmed or curious responses mixed in. **Sentiment:** 15% positive · 15% mixed · 70% skeptical **The case for** - A few found the concept delightful or fun, tying it to personal superstition habits they grew up with. - Some appreciated it as a quirky art/design project worth meeting the creator over. **The pushback** - Many argued the whole point of the superstition is physical contact with actual wood, so remote knocking defeats its purpose. - Multiple commenters questioned practical concerns like power supply (no solar panel) and weatherproofing. - Several joked it would inevitably get an ads or subscription upsell, mocking the SaaS-ification of a folk ritual. - One noted doing the ritual remotely might actually anger rather than appease the superstition's spirits. **By community** - hackernews (skeptical): Dominated by parody 'as-a-service' jokes about other superstitions and skepticism that remote knocking defeats the ritual's purpose of physical contact, with only scattered genuine appreciation. **Hottest debate:** Whether the historical point of 'knock on wood' requires literal physical contact with unpainted wood, debated with dueling Wikipedia citations. **Open questions** - Does remote knocking actually fulfill the superstition's purpose, or does it only work with real physical contact? - How will the devices handle power (no solar) and weatherproofing for outdoor installation? **Highlights** > Knocking on wood was about knocking on unpainted wood, so that you have actual direct physical contact with wood. Remote knocking seems to go in the other direction... > — [yetihehe on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309367) > > Knocking on wood was about knocking on unpainted wood, so that you have actual direct physical contact with wood. How do you know this? For example, there is a wikipedia page section entitled "Origin of use in the English language"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocking_on_wood#Origin_of_use... but the contents of that section make it extremely clear that no relevant facts are known to wikipedia. > — [thaumasiotes on hackernews · 2 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309794) > The knockers are missing solar panels to continuously charge their batteries. So there will be sustained costs to keep them running. And how water-proof are they? Apart from that, it's going to sell like hot cakes. > — [classified on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309282) > This seems exactly like the sort of shenanigan that would piss off rather than appease the wood spirits. > — [jtickle on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309138) > I can't explain why but it's amazing! Maybe because in my culture "knocking on the wood 3 times" helps to avoid the bad luck and I lived with that for 20 years, or maybe it's just fun to imagine that you're knocking on the wood remotely ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ > — [gosen on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309704) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50258496) · 48 points · 33 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Show HN: Impossible Machines: declaratively program the physical world](https://daily.dev/posts/show-hn-impossible-machines-declaratively-program-the-physical-world-agfg355tt) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [This design software reimagines everyday objects as self-aware devices](https://daily.dev/posts/this-design-software-reimagines-everyday-objects-as-self-aware-devices-b2nqjjlh6) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Magnetic Lock Opens By Magic](https://daily.dev/posts/magnetic-lock-opens-by-magic-tb1ibnzqb) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#iot](https://daily.dev/tags/iot) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/tree-mounted-machines-connect-to-web-app-to-let-users-knock-on-wood-remotely-mdkchifti) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Tree-mounted machines connect to web app to let users knock on wood remotely","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tree-mounted-machines-connect-to-web-app-to-let-users-knock-on-wood-remotely-mdkchifti","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/tree-mounted-machines-connect-to-web-app-to-let-users-knock-on-wood-remotely-mdkchifti"},"datePublished":"2026-10-30T20:39:48.623Z","dateModified":"2026-10-31T03:40:34.739Z","description":"Knock On Wood is an internet-connected device that lets people perform the knock-on-wood superstition remotely when no actual wood is nearby. 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