When it comes to woodworking, a board cut a few millimetres too long
or too short can make the difference between a work of art and a pile of
firewood. For a lot of us, this small margin of error can turn the
making of even the simplest picture frame or birdhouse seem akin to
painting the Mona Lisa.
A new smart tool, however, could give even the most ham-fisted
hobbyist the guidance he or she needs to give the garage workbench
another go.
Alec Rivers of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
developed a smart wood router that compensates for an operator's unsure
hand by following a pre-programmed plan. He is presenting the device
this week at the Siggraph Conference in Los Angeles.
The device can automatically cut out accurate shapes ranging from a
picture frame to a map of the US. Rivers says the user is responsible
only for getting the tool within six millimetres of the
proposed design or plan.
The router then takes over, adjusting
the position of the cutting bit on the tool to keep the cuts within the
plan. Before one starts to cut, Rivers says the user moves the device
over the raw material, allowing an on-board camera to scan a
two-dimensional map of the project's surface.
The user then
loads the desired design he or she wants to cut onto the tool. He says
developers want to sell pre-existing plans in an app format.
Rivers
says the device is not only easy to use but can be adapted for a host
of other users ranging from drawing a simple picture to cutting steel
for a navy destroyer. "We hope this is just the beginning of a new
market," he says
No comments:
Post a Comment