Motivation
A typeface designer (who does not want to do any scripting and has no means of letting someone else do that work), has to deal with the available user interface, tool set, feature set, and the list of bugs in the typeface design applications they use. This makes the designer a victim to the development of applications that are often merely production tools and not intended for design iterations. Not being (partly) the designer of your own tools puts a designer in a vulnerable position.

Specialized tools
Spreading functions over different tools reduces the need to buy them all at the same time, or pay for the development of a function you don’t require. Or you can do better yourself and write your own custom tool for a function. Functions can be added over time as they become available and technology changes.
Decentralized development also means that a group of people can work on the functions that they really do need and are extremely capable of making and maintaining.

The role of RoboFont
The idea behind RoboFont is to provide a sturdy framework where everyone can add their own functionalities with Python, rather than a program with hundreds of (often little needed) functions.Constructing an open structure for RoboFont allows any developer to add new technologies to the overall functionality, without the need for the main developer(s) to put it on top of their list. It also allows competition between ideas and technologies, as any developer’s idea of how something should work can be part of RoboFont.

Requires OS X 10.6 or later

Home Page - http://doc.robofont.com/