MagicSaw: Robot carpenter makes custom article of furniture

Researchers have repurposed existing robotic technology therefore it's able to produce custom wood article of furniture, a move they are saying can greatly improve safety.

The team at the Massachusetts' Institute of Technology (MIT) changed existing technology, as well as the popular vacuuming mechanism Roomba, to form the system.

The cluster aforesaid the goal wasn't to exchange human carpenters however to permit them to specialize in a lot of necessary tasks like style.

It is hoped systems like this may also improve safety.

"Every year thousands of carpenters injure their hands and fingers doing dangerous tasks like sawing," the team aforesaid.

AutoSaw might let "non-experts customise completely different things that may then be created with the assistance of robots".

Robotics have long been accustomed manufacture factory-made, flat-pack {furniture|piece of article of furniture|article of furniture|furnishings} however MIT's work might pave the means for robots to form custom furniture for specific functions and areas.

The robots can cut the wood properly, adding the holes required to assemble it, and carry the element elements round the space.

Compared to existing machines employed by carpenters, AutoSaw is significantly cheaper and a lot of mobile. also as Roomba, the project uses 2 robots from German firm Kuka - tho' the actual model utilized by MIT's team has since been out of print.

Easy access

But hardware specifics aside, the important goal of MIT's work is to demonstrate that high-quality, customisable article of furniture is a lot of accessible than before - and safer to provide.

"Robots have already enabled production, however with computing they need the potential to alter mass customisation and personalisation in virtually everything we tend to turn out,” aforesaid Daniela Rus, quoted in a piece written by MIT's in-house publication.

Ms Res and her team area unit a part of MIT's technology and computing Laboratory, based in 2004.

The group's analysis paper on the system aforesaid the robots were capable of size up and cutting the wood required to create a chair, shed, table and decking.

Assembly remains distributed by humans, as if it were a typical flat-pack product.

“Our aim is to democratise furniture-customisation,” Ms Charles Munroe Schulz aforesaid. 

“We’re making an attempt to open up a realm of opportunities therefore users aren’t absolute to what they’ve bought at Ikea. Instead, they'll create what most closely fits their desires.”