A number of our readers are into robotics.  Their goal is a personal robot that can clean the house, wash the car, etc.  That's a fun and challenging hobby -- but it's likely to remain a hobby -- not a money-making enterprise -- for quite some time.  And even when its time comes, any market for it will quickly end up in the hands of big companies because it will be a "commodity" product and commodity products depend much more on market clout than they do on product excellence.

However, there is a market that 1) is available now, 2) needs robotics skills, 3) can only be developed by the little guy, and 4) is one where they can likely hold onto a good portion of the market.  That's low-cost computer peripherals that can increase the productivity of skilled trades and commercial crafts people -- low-cost manufacturing tools for the "little guy".

Most everything that's been done in the computer field the past 15 years -- hardware, software, and peripherals -- has been directed toward increasing the productivity of the knowledge worker -- the manager, writer, engineer, etc.  With laserprinters, scanners, etc., we can efficiently do most anything we want with paper.  But how about wood, metal, glass, clay, etc.

The PC has fully as much promise for increasing the productivity of the skilled trades and commercial crafts person as the knowledge worker -- but nobody's paying attention.  The machine tool and robotics "establishments" are doing just the opposite -- developing multi-mega-dollar systems to replace them.

The reason is because that's where the market (i.e,, the money) is.  When Ford automates a machining line, they perceive their interests to be in replacing a dozen machinists with one technician running a (very expensive) computer-controlled machining center.  (Whether that's really in their interest is an open question -- someone's going to be supporting those machinists, if not directly (unlikely), then through taxes.)

So if the market is only for big manufacturing tools, where's the opportunity for the entrepreneur?  It's in the "need" -- in the undeveloped market.  Big companies can't develop niche markets.  It's too expensive.  They have to pay burdened dollars for the time to educate and develop a market.  The entrepreneur can do it in his "spare" time.  And there's not enough return.  But what the big company sees as "low" return can be riches to the entrepreneur.

This is the kind of market entrepreneurs should be looking for.  One that can be eased into with little capital.  Where it's easy to identify your customers.  Where you can work closely with your customers, letting their problems and ideas improve your product as you build your customer base.  Where you can learn as you grow.  Where you can make your mistakes at a scale that aren't fatal.  And where you don't have the constant threat of a big guy cutting you off at the knees by pricing you out of the market.  (That may happen some day if the product proves to have "commodity" appeal, but by that time you'll have enough money that you'll just retire -- or start a new venture.)

So what are we looking for?  We're looking for products that help people who work with their hands earn a living.  For example, if we could provide local woodworkers with a system that allowed them to design and manufacture custom moldings and trim 3-4 times faster than they can now, just maybe they could get more work out of local architects and builders, make a better living -- and just maybe, society would end up with better looking houses.

Note that these "tools" don't need to do "everything".  They must be simple, reliable, maintainable, safe.  And lightweight -- "tools for people" can't require forklift trucks to move around.  They don't need to be fast.  They can compromise accuracy for cost.  They can be limited in the size and types of materials worked.  They can (and should) be semi-automatic, letting the user and the PC do what each does best.  But they MUST be affordable -- under $10,000 (including PC) -- and they must offer added-value commensurate with that cost.

Why do I think that such tools are possible?  Because all of our manufacturing tools were basically designed in the late 1800s.  There were no computers then.  Only the crudest of sensors and actuators.  To get stability and repeatability in the tools, they started out with massive heavy castings.  Then to get precision, added precision mechanical parts.  That's basically the same design we're still using.  We've made them more stable, more precise.  We've added electronics to make them faster and even more precise.  But, they're still the same old design -- big, heavy, expensive.

Why can't we get rid of those big, heavy castings?  Why can't we get rid of those expensive precision mechanical parts?  With today's sensors, we can economically determine, with more than workable precision, where tools and work are within a large workspace.  Even if we have to add markers for the sensors to target.  Even if we have to make a calibration pass.  Remember, our objective is semi-automatic.

But how do we get a "free-floating" tool to do work (i.e., exert force in a controlled direction) within that workspace?  That's the rub.  We don't want to add heavy mechanics because then we're right back where we started -- with an 1800's design.  There have to be other ways.  Archimedes said, "Give me a long enough lever and I can move the world."

How about a little mouse -- radio-controlled or with an umbilical -- that could run around a sheet of metal and engrave it from a Postscript file?  Or etch a sheet of glass?  Or route a panel of wood?

How about a "spider" that one could clamp on the top of a cube of metal to grind out a cavity for an injection mold?  Why not "grind"?  So it's slow.  But if a laid-off metalworker could do it in his garage, without having to amortize plant and expensive equipment into his price, he could make a decent living -- and the rest of us could get lower-cost molds.

How about a lightweight boom, on a rolling cart or mounted in the back of a pickup, that could paint billboards, or store marquees or canopies, from a Postscript file.  Point the boom to the two points defining the area and the image automatically scales to it.  Think someone might be able to earn a living with it?  Canvas canopies, for example, are now taken down (requiring a truck with a lift and about a man-hour of labor), taken back to a plant, hand-painted (another man-hour of labor, plus reserve for mistakes), taken back to the site and re-installed (another man-hour of labor).

So far, we've just talked about these "tools" from the viewpoint of helping people make a living.  But there's another trend creating a potential market for such tools -- manufacture at point of sale.  The big guys, the GMs and Burlingtons, are all focusing on "flexible manufacturing".  How can we provide maximum customization to our customers with minimum turn-round?

But -- hey -- the ultimate in flexible manufacturing is doing it right on the spot -- at the point of sale.  Hallmark captured 60-some percent of the greeting card market simply because they were willing to design, print, inventory, and distribute greeted cards for every conceivable situation.  But today -- with computer and laserprinter -- a greeting card store can print any greeting the customer wants -- at the point of sale.  We can even print the whole card -- currently, not with the quality we need -- but even that's not far off.  And -- significantly -- without the overhead of a central plant, without the costs of inventory, distribution, scrap, and obsolescence -- even without labor costs, because the store clerk already has to be there to staff the store.

An outfit in California is doing a complete sheet music store in a kiosk.  They store sheet music on optical disk.  You can computer-search for whatever you're looking for.  You can audibly play a selection.  If you want it in a different key, you can tell it what you want and all the chords change.  When you have what you want, it prints out on a laserprinter.  Manufacture at point of sale.

These examples exist because someone took an existing peripheral -- the laserprinter -- and put it to "commercial" use.  Every printed-paper product -- invitations, posters, prints, even books -- are headed in that direction.  And many other products would -- if the appropriate peripherals existed.

How about a little peripheral that could semi-automatically make custom chess pieces to the customer's specification?  Or etch glass coasters -- or suncatchers?  Or work polymer clay to make custom beads or jewelry?

Or a sewing-head or embroidering-head peripheral.  The manufacturers of such equipment are building microprocessors into their products -- but the user can't get at them, use them with other software, etc.  Think it might be time to bring "open systems" to some of these products?  The big guys aren't going to -- until some little guy comes along and starts stealing major market share from them.  And, even then, they'll react way too late.  Remember IBM?

Think there might be some opportunities in the areas I've sketched above?  This is robotics territory.  No one else is going to do it.  No one else is capable of it.  Keep in mind that I haven't even scratched the surface of possibilities.  I could go on with dozens more examples.  But there are thousands!  Everything that is made and manufactured is a candidate.  The question is simply: Can you see a way that a person with reasonable manual skills -- working out of his basement or garage, with your computer-assist -- can make some class of "things" or provide some type of service -- better or cheaper than what's currently being done by the "establishment" (burdened with their costs of plant, inventory, distribution, etc.)?

A couple of words of advice.  First, think small.  Yes, the womenswear store of tomorrow may well consist of a virtual reality dressing room and a dress-making robot, but that's a big step and a ways downstream.  But find a smaller bite -- that you can do now -- and you just might have the experience and resources to do that store when its time comes.

Second, browse some gift shops.  Get out to some crafts fairs.  Meet some commercial craftspeople.  Commercial craftspeople are the quintessential "small manufacturers".  They know their particular media like no one else!  Many of them can tell you the history of the craft from the dawn of time.  Everything that's been tried and what the problem's were.  And -- they're potential customers.

For more thoughts and some interesting approaches, see Don Lancaster's article in the Nov/Dec. '94 issue of Midnight Engineering magazine (719-254-4558, $24/year).