Handibot prototype renders (via ShopBot Tools)
It has been recently argued that the Neanderthals were able to make versatile multi-tools blades by delivering precise blows to a rock. Tens of thousands of years later, homo sapiens are still attempting to make even more compact, multi-use tools. The North Carolina company, ShopBot Tools, has set out to make one of the first Smart Digital Power Tools, able to be programmed to do all sorts of manufacturing tasks, and they are calling on all homo sapiens to think of ideas that could make it even more versatile.
ShopBot’s machine is called the HandiBot. It is shaped similar to a toolbox, but whatever you put underneath it will likely be changed forever. The HandiBot does indeed house tools but the machine itself positions tool heads precisely and does the work as it has been programmed to do. Internal rail systems are programmed to move a drill or other power tool in the x,y, z directions (with potential 6 DOF) and place the tool head directly where it needs to be. As the name also states, the HandiBot has two handles that allow you to hold it up to or down on whatever you are working on, like vertical drywall or a flat piece of aluminum (yes it can work on aluminum and other metals). Replacing big bulky machines, HandiBot users will be able to bring the machine to materials instead of the other way around.
One of the most innovative features is the HandiBot’s ability to do tasks via app from your smart phone or tablet. With premade apps, like the “Hole Cutter” app, users can simply input the diameter and depth of the hole needed, align the tool head using a precise laser pointer and press the “Start” trigger; the machine will do the rest. Holes of any practical dimension can be made along with precise countersinks and elliptical holes. Any many other apps already exist to do other jobs with a single click.
“Imagine apps for mounting hinges, cutting lockset holes, doing any diagonal cut in a board, making mounting plate holes or any template-type pattern, making a fancy joint, doing a floor inlay, put a carving on a door or drawer, cut fancy molding, … DO ANY of these things with just the touch of a “Start” button after filling in a setting or two in the app on your smart phone. “- ShopBot Tools
The HandiBot frame is also versatile to accommodate for different tasks. Adding a decorative engraving to a bed frame is very difficult by hand, but the HandiBot frame can be attached to a rail that can creep it over a long surface, adding a precision carving into the wood in lengths that far exceed the dimensions of the machines chassis. This same arrangement could drill holes, add bevels, or make pockets at exactly the right placement along this hypothetical bed frame as well. It’s easy to see how this machine along with other smart digital power tools (SDPTs) could change communities, allowing them to create their own commodities (like a bed frame) locally.
As of now, the machine can perform many jobs at professional quality. HandiBot can create hinge cutouts, engravings with diamond drags on many materials, it has functions to make cut-offs, diagonal cuts, and joints (up to 8’’), it’s a beveller, pocketer, puzzler, and all-around CNC mill. Modifications to the system could potentially make it useful in soldering or welding, providing the precision needed to print your own circuit boards.
ShopBot founder, CEO and president, Ted Hall, admits, “We think it’s beyond our ability, or the ability of any individual company, to envision the range of uses, apps, and accessories that will truly enable the potential of such digital power tools,” he said. “That’s why we’re recruiting help in imagining the use of the tool and range of applications, and in creating the software apps that will stimulate enthusiastic adoption of Handibots and smart digital power tools in general.”
ShopBot agrees that there is no way for a single organization or individual to come up with all the possible uses for a device like HandiBot. For this reason, they are making the project’s hardware and software open source. Hardware and software details are still missing from the ShopBot page but expect these to come out along with the machine in July, 2013. A crowdfunding campaign is in the works and should be running in June.
When the machine becomes available, ShopBot says the price will be around $2,500. They plan to decrease the price so that homebuilders, diy’ers, inventors, small manufacturers and students will have access to the portable, hand-held, robotic power tool. The HandiBot was unveiled at this year’s Hardware Innovation Workshop in San Mateo, California. Start getting your garage ready!
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