An Experiment in the Next Industrial Revolution

Digital fabrication joinery is used in producing Handibot “Smart Tools”.

 

You can think about Handibot as ShopBot’s experimental platform for exploring manufacturing strategies for the “next industrial revolution”. In a recent blog post responding to a customer challenge about open collaboration, I’ve tried to lay out why digital fabrication will be the catalyst …

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A Start at the “New Industrial Revolution”

I’ve just posted a new blog to 100kGarages that highlights the Kickstarter campaign of a design company called AtFAB. AtFAB (Anne Filson and Gary Rohrbacher) is all about digital fabrication and the way that digital fabrication enables a new kind of distributed manufacturing. It’s all about how to return competitive, small-shop manufacturing to communities with …

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Indexer Spinning for Autodesk University

I’m getting back into reporting here after too long a time spent deep in software. I thought I’d start with a report on an Indexer project. Reporting on this project lets me describe some things that have been going on at ShopBot as well as highlight a feature of the (new) ShopBot 3.8.x Version software.

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly … Again

We’re just back from the IWF show in Atlanta. This show is the largest woodworking machinery show in the US. In the past, we’ve found it a good place to let a wide range of woodworkers see our tools, learn how they can address production needs of small shops and also suit manufacturing processes in …

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ShopBot Jamboree Coming This Week …

This weekend the ShopBot Jamboree returns to Durham and we’re all looking forward to getting together with ShopBotters from around the country. We’ve enjoyed doing the Jamboree on the West Coast and then in Texas, but it’s good to be back home too.

Our Jamboree is a lot of things, but most of all it’s …

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Thoughts & Comments on Digital Fabrication and the New Industrial Revolution

I have been wanting to post some thoughts on two recent, heavily discussed, blog articles , Chris Anderson’s (of Wired Magazine) report on new kinds of small manufacturing operations and Joel Johnson’s (of gizmodo) spirited critique. Between the two, there’s been a lot of good discussion of the ways in which new technologies do and …

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It’s Still the Economy, of Course … [Part 1]

While puttering on various MAKEcation projects, I’ve continued to ponder the economy and how to relate to today’s conditions as a small business. Last week’s government report of continued job losses in December prompted me to get some of the thoughts down. These have grown to be a bit extensive, so for convenience I’ve broken …

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Economy, continued … [Part 2]

Getting More Specific for Us at ShopBot

The specific problem that confronts both ShopBot and ShopBotters is that it’s not possible to know exactly what form the new opportunities I’ve vaguely described will take — or the exact directions we should move or the projects we should undertake. But the issue has our attention. Here …

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Testing Painted Bas-Relief Methods

Continuing with the discussion of my MAKEcation art project introduced in an earlier posting, I’ve had a general idea of how I’d like these paintings/carvings to look — that is, the feeling I’m going for — yet, I’m not really sure about the specifics of how I’m going to do it. I am sure it …

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Back to Boats …

During this somewhat strung-out MAKEcation I’ve been working on my boat project as well as the art project. Just digging out and cleaning up my previously described, 16-year-old pram project has been a job in itself. But I’ve started cutting a few needed parts and sloshing around a bit of epoxy to move the boat-building …

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