Hello Dan!
I was wondering if you were familiar with the area of Human Factors Psychology/Engineering and egonomics?
I see UI/UX related jobs that GLowforge has posted which are very strongly related to the area, but it encompasses more than that. Many corporations and government agencies use the use human factors specialists to make sure the technology, tools, and systems they developed match what humans are capable of and to assure their products meets the demands of their target audience. These goals are achieved using empirical research and established metrics found in the literature.
One example could be the utilization of an eye tracking study to see if, when using your software, is the user looking where the developer wants/expects them to be looking. Or if they are getting distracted and or taking a long time to find essential elements of the UI.
Here is a little more information if you are interested (or anyone else!): http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/human-factors
I hope this is helpful, I have high hopes for the Glowforge not only pushing the use of laser cutters but the area of home manufacturing as a whole!