[vacpress]

bruce,

i love your site and designs. i have looked at it many times over the last several years! welcome to cnczone. you will probably like this place. there are people with information here!

as for your specific questions, i dont know to much. i have seen a NOVA special called "Rise of the Robots" which is about industrial automation produced in the early 80s. I am sure you will find what you want in engineering and history books! i would goto the biggest library available, and also ask the librarians. there are lots of information sources they can search. usually.. if its a good library. they can search scientific articles, private information databases, etc. at least they could at the library i worked at in a chicago suburb....

just a note, i am also working on creating NC type devices purely to create art.. different overall theme than your work.

i think there is definiately something to this homebuilt cnc movement of the last 5 to 8 years. i believe it is the first wave of an overall move towards a virtual and decentralized production system. 3d printer type RP devices are the next territory of both hobbiests and standard computer store shelves. i think the rapidity we have gone from simple NC devices and crudy printers to 6axis 3D carving machines and homebuilt EDM cnc machines shows how wide open this field will be.

the more opensource types who get involved, the more amazing the future. we are the first people in the history of robotics to really really discover use for robots in the home. these $250 cnc devices can save huge amounts of time and money for specific tasks. these simple devices can also be used to upgrade themselves! the self replicating model of upgrade on homebuilt household robots is a very intriguing notion.

i would love to hear what your take on this is.

also: i have in my library 2 or 3 books about the history of mechanical devices in industry. search amazon.com; one title i can remember is "A history of Mechanical Inventions"

This book discuses early pre electrical devices which automatically produced parts. animatrons or something like that.
if you cant find info, i will get more titles for you.

regards,
robert