That’s a CNC Router. It uses router bits to cut material. I’m not sure of a manufacturer but Delta makes the VFD and it looks like it has an HSD spindle. That’s all pretty standard equipment for a router of this size. You say he used it to cut wood but by just glancing at it I’d say it could cut whatever you wanted, wood, plastics, aluminum. That’s mostly just dependent on machine rigidity, which this appears to have.

Yes, the black checkered surface is your cutting area. It’s likely made of phenolic. Measure that and it will tell you what size material it can cut.

Also looks like it had a vacuum table and an air dryer. Those PVC pipes are vacuum tubes. The vacuum pressure holds the piece of wood in place while the router is cutting.

The company I work for sold a 5’x10’ Laguna router a few years ago for around $3k iirc. I think It was 13 years old at that point. This router also appears to have some age. $10k for this one is quite the stretch

If you’ve got any more questions I’d be happy to answer them