Jasper Mallinson, a British product design engineer studying for his masters in Innovation Design Engineering at the Imperial College London and Royal College of Art, has created a wearable CNC machine that is set to revolutionise the design and fabrication industry with its superhuman precision and portability.

Mallinson’s prototype ‘Mecha-morphis’ explores the concept of ‘augmented makers’ by reimagining digital fabrication technologies to augment, rather than replace, human making abilities. The wearable robotic device gives professionals on the go the capabilities of digital fabrication machines when working on intricate design jobs.

Being wearable, the CNC machine facilitates fabrication at almost any scale, from drilling circuit boards to welding super-structures in a very ergonomic way. Mecha-morphis can handle the work of a typical CNC machine in a workshop but with the added advantage of mobility.

Mecha-morphis is designed to be comfortably worn on the arm, with an innovative cable robot positioned between the human hand and common tools such as routers, drills or welding torches. The CNC machine consists of a portable frame that can move in six axes while the circuitry and hardware are worn as a backpack by the user.

“Despite human movement, the six axes of control, when combined with real-time position sensing, can correct both the tool’s position and orientation to achieve superhuman precision. Commands layered on top of this correction can control movements and work from 3D models,” Mallinson explains.

Image credit: https://2023.rca.ac.uk/students/jasper-mallinson/

Branko Miletic

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