Skip to content
OpticWorks
OpticWorks

Intelligent instruments. Physical possibility.

Expand what you can perceive. And what you can make.

Advanced hardware and software for manufacturing, imaging, and the physical world. Designed to bring ambitious engineering within reach.

Explore our work Inside the engineering
San Diego, CaliforniaDiscover what we’re building
Featured product: Compact VMC
Schematic line illustration of a compact vertical machining center: column, spindle head, worktable and enclosure outline.
Schematic illustration, not to scale. Not a CAD render or photograph of the prototype.

01Precision manufacturing

Compact VMC

Serious CNC machining, sized for smaller workshops.

A compact vertical machining center designed to make capable, automated CNC machining accessible to smaller workshops, with control software, sensing and automation integrated from the start.

Prototype in development
  • Compact footprintDesign objective
  • Ordinary residential powerDesign objective
  • ISO20 automatic toolingIn development
  • Integrated control, sensing and automationDesign objective
Explore Compact VMC
Featured product: Mach 1
Abstract illustration of a fast waveform sampled by a sequence of frames.
Conceptual illustration of high-speed frame sampling. Not product imagery.

02Advanced imaging and perception

Mach 1

High-speed imaging, made accessible.

Mach 1 is OpticWorks' high-speed camera product and the center of our work in imaging and perception: high-speed capture, advanced sensing and image processing for scientific and engineering use.

Early development
  • High-speed imagingDesign objective
  • Advanced sensingDesign objective
  • Image processingDesign objective
  • Accessible instrumentationDesign objective
Explore Mach 1

03Platform

One connected platform.

Our machines are designed to share one software environment, connecting control, sensing and automation so that complex equipment becomes easier to set up, understand and run.

  • Control

    Machine control designed together with the hardware it runs, rather than adapted to it afterwards.

  • Sensing

    Measurement and imaging that give software an accurate picture of the machine, the work and the environment.

  • Automation

    Routine steps such as setup, calibration and tool management handled by the system where it can do them reliably.

  • AI-native workflows

    Interfaces designed around assistance and automation from the outset, so complex machines become approachable.

The platform is in development. Read about the direction →

04Engineering approach

Less complexity for the people using the machine.

Publishing a better specification is not the goal. We want capable equipment to need less specialist knowledge to set up, calibrate and run.
  1. 01

    Reduce complexity for the user

    Better specifications matter less than how much expertise a machine demands. We design for setup, calibration and everyday use, not just the spec sheet.

  2. 02

    Integrate sensing from the start

    Machines that can measure their own state can guide their operators and automate the tedious parts. Sensing is part of the architecture, not an accessory.

  3. 03

    One platform across machines

    Shared software, interfaces and conventions let each new machine build on the last, and let users carry what they learn between them.

  4. 04

    Say what is validated

    We publish what we have demonstrated and label everything else as an objective. Development status is stated plainly on every product page.

05Company

OpticWorks develops advanced hardware and software that expand human perception and capability.

About OpticWorks

Contact

Questions, partnerships or press: email us and a member of the team will reply.

support@optic.works
OpticWorks, Inc.3077B Clairemont Dr. #201San Diego, CA 92117