Extrusion finder

Proposed client: Emma Gordon, Metaswitch Networks

Many offices, houses, furnishings and machines are made from lengths of metal or plastic that have a constant cross-section, but come in different lengths of extrusion. When one of these breaks, it ought to be possible to fix it by ordering a replacement length and simply snapping it into place. However, it's not necessarily easy to find the extrusion you want. The result of this project would be a great new market opportunity. A user can simply take a picture of the required cross-section (using their phone, or perhaps a flatbed scanner), and the system should automatically find the closest match from online catalogues or sales sites such as seagateplastics.com. As a last resort, an obsolete product could even be resurrected with 3D printing = but there is far more profit to be made by making online referrals and have someone else worry about the manufaturing!