Designer and Oru Kayak founder Anton Willis grew up in rural Mendocino County, with easy access to rivers, lakes, and the ocean. In 2008, a move into a small San Francisco apartment forced his fiberglass kayak into storage. Inspired by an article on new advances in the art and science of origami, Willis sketched...
Read more →Lots of people have been writing about it. We thought that Zach Kaplan’s little video does a really nice job of summing up what a big change this represents for designing, manufacturing, and making a living… What do you think? What are the challenges and opportunities you are seeing in your digital fabrication...
Read more →Starting a business based on the capabilities of a piece of equipment is exactly the same as starting a business doing almost anything else. There is no piece of equipment that guarantees riches to its owner. The goal for any business is the same. You need to find customers and offer them something that...
Read more →CNC Routers like the ShopBot are extremely capable tools. They can make amazingly precise cuts. They can repeat parts flawlessly and they help fabricate shapes that would be nearly impossible to cut by hand. One of the most exciting things about CNC routers is the opportunities they can offer to folks who have the...
Read more →The Ninja Standing Desk is just like it sounds — and it may well be the world’s first portable and affordable version of the permanently installed workstations you see around office and home businesses around the country. The “Ninja” behind the Ninja Standing Desk (www.NinjaStandingDesk.com) is San Franciscan Dan McDonley, and his product has...
Read more →Maker Pro Newsletter’s DC Denison pulls together a round-up of 2013’s developments on the Maker Pro frontier — where making meets business. Turns out it was a very busy, productive year indeed. Put it on your to-do list to learn more about these start-ups and initiatives — read the round-up here. One that stands...
Read more →Interesting article on Dec. 26, 2013 by NPR’s Chris Arnold on the growth in higher-tech manufacturing processes in the U.S. It sheds light on what a lot of us know, that the new jobs in manufacturing will be there for those with the new skills needed to operate digital fabrication equipment… The article features...
Read more →This Fall 2013, a team comprised of software engineers and designers from Colorado and Massachusetts, architects from the UK, and some ShopBotting digital fabbers from Virginia got together and built a house. In two days. Thousands of Maker Faire-ians walked around inside it and checked it out, and learned about the easy-to-use software employed...
Read more →How does technology influence the size and shape of business? What’s the most effective kind of organization to house low-cost CNC tools? What are the opportunities ahead? The rapid decline in the cost of capital equipment such as CNC tools, along with the capacity to share or sell designs around the world, suggest that...
Read more →We recently launched our Kickstarter campaign (www.Handibot.com/fund) for the development of ShopBot’s new Handibot Smart Tool. We seem to be off to a good start in the campaign, but we have a number of goals for the campaign beyond just selling Handibots. The two most important to us are: 1) getting the understanding and...
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