There's more to CNC than a hip startup like glowforge. (In the interests of disclosure, it should be noted that Series A investors for Glowforge include Bre Pet

There's more to CNC than a hip startup like glowforge. (In the interests of disclosure, it should be noted that Series A investors for Glowforge include Bre Pettis and Jenny Lawton. Given their business decisions with Makerbot, I'd consider them 'tainted' to this market). This device is more akin to a regular 4x8 cnc router, like ShopBot, or an off the shelf Chinese CNC machine. The innovation here is an experiment with the drawbot mechanics popularized around 2010, but with a much heavier toolhead. If it works, awesome - it's an order of magnitude cheaper than a shopbot. Even if it's not ready for production, it's an interesting enough idea for a few shops, garages, or hackerspaces to replicate the project. This is really an awesome idea, and comparing it to a startup with questionable investors does it a disservice.