ShopBot begins Kickstarter campaign

ShopBot Tools launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to support development and distribution of the Handibot smart power tool, its latest hardware innovation.

This 30-day campaign hopes to raise $125,000 and one of the main rewards for contributors is to get a first-run Handibot six weeks after the close of the campaign.

The Handibot won an Editor's Choice award in May when it was introduced at Make magazine's hardware innovation workshop. The portable robotic power tool is designed to enhance creativity and productivity at construction and remodeling jobsites, in rapid prototyping and in countless DIY projects. The Handibot tool features an app-driven, one-button start and can be run from a smartphone or tablet, as well as from PCs. The Handibot can be used to cut, drill, and carve in wood, plastic and aluminum with computer-controlled precision, according to the company.

"The Handibot tool delivers precision cutting, drilling, machining, and carving. That's because full-up CNC technology is operating behind the scenes. The Handibot tool features uncompromised components for open development and expansion of functionality (6-axis control, I/O, power, configurability),” ShopBot president Ted Hall said in a statement.

The Kickstarter campaign will fund an initial production run of Handibot power tools by ShopBot and also enable development of a Web-based eco-system where anyone with ideas for apps can collaborate with app developers in an open source software and hardware environment.

"One company can't possibly come up with all the interesting job apps that can be put to work with a Handibot tool," Hall said. "So we look to the crowd to think of apps for the tool and work together in developing them."

To see video of the tool at work, visit www.handibot.com.