“We are unusual,” says Ted Hall, the founder of ShopBot Tools, Inc., a Durham-based digital fabrication company, “in that we make the whole things ourselves – the electronics, the software.”

We’re in the world headquarters, a building nestled into the countryside in North Durham. The office opens into an open room with computer desks adorned with objects built in the company’s workshop space, or in employees’ garages at home.

Hall says ShopBot has been an innovative player in the business for the past 18 years and was on an incredible growth trajectory in the early- and mid-2000s. “We actually had our best year in 2008,” says Hall, “because the recession didn’t hit until the end of the year.”

When it did, said Hall, a former Duke University neuroscientist who retired early to start ShopBot, it hit hard. The company was forced to reduce staff and pursue new markets. The impact of the economic downturn was drastic, “because about 80 percent of our tools went to woodworking,” he said.

When the market dried up with the housing crash, cabinet makers, furniture makers, and other woodworking customers virtually dried up overnight.

“We were hit pretty hard,” said Hall, “but all of a sudden, we discovered that small- and medium-sized manufacturers were starting to use our kind of tools in their manufacturing processes.”

It opened up whole new market opportunities, said Hall. The company was able to weather the economic storm, and continued to pursue innovative methods of digital fabrication.

While some of the tools have hefty price tags – $40,000 – the tools that ShopBot equipment ships often replace equipment that is pricier, sometimes up to $180,000, said Hall. This is especially true in the aerospace industry, said Hall.

With the new market opportunities, and the renewed expansion of the team – the company is back up to 25 employees – the company is poised to have its best year.

The future is promising, as well. There’s been a lot of hype about 3D printing in the past 18 months.

“It’s very clear that the Maker movement is a growing trend,” said ShopBot developer David Bryan, “and one that will have impact on what we do in the future.”

“If we can offer something that will appeal to that crowd,” Bryan said,“all of a sudden, we’ll see a huge surge.”

The company will continue to cater to this community, said Hall, though “it is tough to determine how large the Maker community is right now.”

There’s a difference between the techie-maker crowd and the DIY crowd that you’ll find at a Home Depot, said Hall. When the company is able

“We’ve been pushing digital fabrication for 18 years,” said Hall, “long before the maker movement emerged.”

“We’ve been doing what we think of as subtractive 3D printing for many years,” said Hall, articulating a hint of frustration at how the media frenzy over 3D printing has affected consumer opinions on the technology.

People have seen companies squabble over producing virtually unusable plastic toys, said Hall, and gone “completely gaga over it.”

There are benefits to the frenzy, said Hall, in that the coverage has introduced many people to the concepts of digital fabrication and 3D printing. That way, people have a genuine interest in the technology, said Hall, “and now they’re ready for something that will really cut and produce real things.”

This could very well be the HandiBot™. It’s a project designed by Bryan, inspired by Neil Gershenfeld, an MIT professor and director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms.

“Gershenfeld’s work discusses how machines can and will build the next generation of machines,” said Bryan, “and we’re trying to refine that concept.”

Think of the HandiBot as the “universal digital power tool,” said Bryan, which runs off user- and company-generated applications on a tablet device or smart phone. Think of that contractor, carrying an entire tool belt that contains tools designed for one specific task. “We’re going to figure out how to solve tasks with a singular tool and a lot of applications,” said Bryan.

It could be a small plaque carving, a 3D wooden model of your favorite sports player, a set of dining room chairs, or engraving circuit boards. “There’s a lot of possibility,” said Bryan. The HandiBot can even make components for more HandiBots, said Bryan.

“We’ll be able to use small fabrication shops all over the country,” said Hall, “we can send those facilities the files, and they’ll be able to produce it there.” This will create jobs, said Hall, “and give people the opportunity to work with technology in a rewarding way.”

ShopBot will only be able to produce 500 to 1,000 HandiBots per year, said Bryan, and because they expect demand will be much larger than that, it’s imperative that the small fabrication community is built along with it.

“We’ve built a community already,” said Hall, “with several hundred digital fabricators.” It’s called 100kGarages – an open and free network which enables anyone to find someone local who could help you build something.

“The applications are almost endless,” said Bryan, in front of an entire wall that shelves projects the staff and trainees have built on-site.

The Internet clearly agrees. The Kickstarter project, launched on June 29th, was fully funded in just two days. The original goal was $125,000, and the campaign ended yesterday, with the company raising $349,498 with 362 backers.