This article was taken from the March 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

Interior design doesn't usually call for industrial robots. But who says you can't mechanise home decor? RoboFold founder Gregory Epps, 32, has been folding metal since he was a teenager. "The idea of industrialising folding metal started about 16 years ago," he says, "but it wasn't until 2008 that I turned it into a business." His patented process uses six machines normally found in car manufacturing plants.

They gently bend sheets of aluminium into shapes hard to achieve through conventional methods, to create decorative facades for interiors. The south London-based company uses computer-aided design to develop a 3D model. The bots look after the rest. "We're looking to introduce a range of products and designs you could attach to a wall in an office, hotel or even your home," he says. Now, where's that bathroom mirror?