Promising new Kickstarter Goliath claims to “turn BIG ideas into tangible items”. A self-propelled CNC milling robot, the device could theoretically tackle huge cutting jobs. 

Smashing its Kickstarter goal on day one of its campaign, the Goliath CNC is an “Autonomous Robotic Machine Tool for Makers”. Made by Lorenzo Frangi, Alessandro Trifoni, and Davide Cevoli, with the backing of Politecnico di Milano, the robot takes the flexibility of handheld milling tools and adds the precision of a floor-standing machine.

Goliath can mill, cut and engrave a range of materials and reads .dwg, .svg, .ai file types. The way it works it simple and ingenious.

Essentially, this wee robot trundles freely over a surface on omni-directional wheels to cut lines according to the design uploaded to its proprietary software. The makers claim Goliath addresses a number of workshop issues like costs, footprint and portability.

People have been slinging money at this Goliath CNC like there’s no tomorrow. At the time of writing it has raised a whopping $821,863, far surpassing its $90,000 goal. Taking a dive on Kickstarter analytics site Kicktraq, we see that the campaign could feasibly pass the $1-million mark if it keeps its current momentum.

The Goliath team estimate delivery for October 2018.

Big Name, Small Robot

The way to operate the Goliath seems simple. You first place it on the material you want to cut and plug it in with its stretchy coil power cord. Next you specify the boundary for the Goliath via a simple step-by-step sensor placement. With this set, it can’t drive off the board and start chopping up the floor.

Next, using one of the company’s self-developed apps to load up a design, you prepare the robot for cutting. All that’s left is fixing the final sensors on  your cutting surface and hitting ‘start’. Self-calibrating its Z-axis, the cutting drill bit fires up  and away it goes.

Goliath uses a patented sensor system that relies on radio frequencies for communication. This means that, communicating some 100 times a second with its sensors, the Goliath continuously maintains a triangulated position. The makers claim this gives this robot CNC mill an accuracy down to 0.1mm.

It can also orient itself as it goes. This allows it to cut right up to the edge of the material.

It’s cool to see in action — be sure to check out the video above. And if you’re thinking of investing, take a look at our feature on 8 things to watch out for before backing.

Source: Tech Crunch