[systemtrigger]

Hair cutting is a huge market, your idea sounds novel, and you seem like you have the insight and know-how to invent a disruptive tool. If the results of your machine are comparable to Great Clips, and the cost is reasonable, and the device is simple to operate, you could conceivably eclipse Flowbee's market share within 4 or 5 years. On the other hand, if the quality is worse than a below average haircut and the variety of the available cuts is small, and the device is clumsy to use -- then until you fix those issues (which could take many years I would imagine) attracting customers and investors might be difficult (That is, unless you know a secret I do not.)

So with safety. An automated cutting machine that operates on human heads might be a significant legal liability. Your engineering would need to nail the tolerances just so to minimize the risk of injury. But you have thought of that. I trust you will test your machine on cheap wigs and mannequin heads before you give yourself that crew cut.

In this space there appear to be 1 patent (http://www.google.com/patents/US4602542) and several patent applications (e.g. http://www.google.com/patents/US20140137714, http://www.google.com/patents/WO2013096572A1, http://www.google.com/patents/WO2015063651A1, http://www.google.com/patents/WO2015067484A1). Don't let this deter you. Just be aware there might be legal claims on your invention.

In 2010 a Japanese company called Robo-Chop planned to open a robot barbershop in a UK mall (http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/6242617.Hair_cutting_ro...). I can find no relevant search results about them today. It might be useful to know what happened to Robo-Chop.

Enough pragmatism. I respect your idea and ambition, and it sounds like you know what you are doing. Good luck on your MVP/Beta.