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The Miraculous Machine that Can Reproduce Itself
guardian.co.uk — The RepRap is a printer of three-dimensional objects. It's like the desktop printer you might have at home, but instead of printing on paper, the RepRap makes hard copy in three dimensions out of plastic from models designed on a computer. It's an extremely powerful technology that could give people the ability to create virtually anything.
MakiMaki- 776 diggs
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- champ2153, on 07/03/2008, -6/+9Heard about this thing a few months back...it has the potential to reproduce things at an exponential rate. One day, it too will over-populate the Earth....
- TopherT, on 07/05/2008, -0/+11It is not a true Von Neumann machine, it can't recreate the electronics and cannot assemble the new machine, it requires a human at almost every point in the process.
- aukxsona, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3more jobs!
- KibibyteBrain, on 07/05/2008, -1/+3Not only that, but the current RepRaps are not very reliable or effective at that, so I wouldn't even say they are even true RepRaps yet. But its cool that people are actually working on this concept.
- JettaMan, on 07/05/2008, -0/+6It doesn't truly reproduce, so it's kind of an overblown claim at the moment.
- gadgetlust, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2The claim in the article is most certainly overblown, but the idea of putting this technology into the price range of the average hobbyist is really exciting. I''m not a big fan of the design of the machine covered in the article (a bit too complex without access to an already-built machine - hence the self replicating aspect) -- but there is another version based on Tom McWire's scratch-built 3 axis CNC machine - see http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-to-Build-Desk ... that I built a version of over the last couple of months using some of the table patterns from http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/McWire_Cartesian_B ... .
Mine is currently not doing additive prototyping -- I went the CNC route (a dremel tool is used as the cutting head), but I could easily swap out the dremel for an extruder if I wanted to / had time to.
I seriously recommend checking these designs out -- it was a fantastically satisfying project when it all came together. - ZachSka87, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2I, for one, welcome our self-replicating robot overlords.
- xptoast, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1I am glad the guy knows he should give it away for free and not end up in court forever. That is one smart guy. Oh and happy 4th to anyone here in America :)
- TopherT, on 07/05/2008, -0/+11It is not a true Von Neumann machine, it can't recreate the electronics and cannot assemble the new machine, it requires a human at almost every point in the process.
- champ2153, on 07/03/2008, -1/+5follow up from previous comment...
http://digg.com/hardware/The_3_D_printer_that_can_ ... - shaw76, on 07/03/2008, -8/+3Old news, Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is working on the same thing.
- nottidredd, on 07/03/2008, -0/+18Remember kids. "Only you can prevent gray goo. Never release nanobot assemblers without replication limiting code."
http://www.boingboing.net/Smoky_The_Nanobot.jpg- Denneval, on 07/04/2008, -1/+3http://www.instantrimshot.com/
- TheMachine1, on 07/05/2008, -0/+11The same code is needed in people.
- DLRULZ, on 07/04/2008, -5/+1This is not good soon will have plastic nanobot like machines controlling earth, I think that would just drive up the price of oil even higher.
- iharbinger, on 07/05/2008, -0/+0then don't use plastic? you can use ANY MATERIAL, you know, his just happened to be using liquid plastic.
- Fafnir43, on 07/05/2008, -1/+2I'm guessing you didn't RTFSummary... It's a 3D printer that works only in plastic, making fairly crude designs. It's not nanotechnology. It isn't even a self-replicator in any real sense of the word - the article is being overly sensational. (It can basically build its own housing - woo.) What it is is extremely cheap - $500 as opposed to tens of thousands. Don't get me wrong - it's a pretty major advance, it's probably a precursor to greater things, and it's pretty goddamned awesome that the inventor's going to release full blueprints for free (so people can build their own). But calling it a self-replicating machine right now is like calling an abacus a computer.
- Andyschism, on 07/04/2008, -2/+1RepRap! Make me a Lui-Bot.
- peaceninja, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1do you mean Liu-bot, as in the Lucy Liu bot from Futurama?
- Andyschism, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1I suffer form dyslexia?
- peaceninja, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1do you mean Liu-bot, as in the Lucy Liu bot from Futurama?
- BigCheezy, on 07/05/2008, -0/+29While the Digg title is the same as The Guardian's, it's still misleading. This machine cannot reproduce itself. It "makes hard copy in three dimensions out of plastic from models designed on a computer." Correct, so how does it reproduce metal parts, spring mechanisms, motors, servos, etc? Wow, buried as popular science ***** (aka misleading).
- KirbyMeister, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2You wouldn't believe how many articles see his design goal (a machine that can build it's own parts) and write the headline as if it's already done and then explain that so far it can only manufacture SOME of it's parts
- snapcase, on 07/05/2008, -0/+4Burying this for the same reason that I buried the pcworld version of the article: http://digg.com/gadgets/Researchers_build_Robot_th ...
Misleading title. It does make certain parts used in its own design. But it can NOT replicate itself. Oh and also burying it for being a duplicate even if it is on a different site it's the same damn story. - grimward, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3I'll join in the bury brigade this time around, this is inaccurate *****, INTERESTING inaccurate *****, but still.. *****! :D
- s0crates82, on 07/05/2008, -0/+12Dugg for Replicator v2.0.
Anxiously awaiting Replicator v10.0 that can make me Earl Grey. Hot.- dhughes, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2 I'd rather, 20 year-old female. Hot!
- SemiSarcastic, on 07/05/2008, -1/+11"So what do you need?"
"Guns. Lots of guns..." - Rudegar, on 07/05/2008, -5/+2unless it's powered by a tiny jesus in a hamster wheel Miraculous maybe the wrong term for it
- nericus, on 07/05/2008, -1/+2I'd buy one, just to cheese off the local clergy.
- Stketcher, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5Am I the only one that expected a video?
- Borgcube636, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2Oh my god Replicators are real. I knew watching Stargate was worthwhile!
- Tssst, on 07/05/2008, -1/+2MC Echer would have soo much fun with that...
- scabbers, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Cartman: Hello, I'm with the cubic waste department. I need to check your lower tram for inhibitors
- dealdigger, on 07/05/2008, -1/+5Not exactly new and companies like 3D Systems http://www.3dsystems.com have been doing this sort of thing since the 80's. Hell you can even have 3D parts printed online:
http://quote.3dsystems.com or
http://www.printapart.com
Do a quick Google on "Rapid Prototyping" and you'll see what I mean. - blastek, on 07/05/2008, -0/+18the future, pirating physical objects. knowing torrents there will be one "ALL CARS 1901-2008" or "EVERY CURRENCY KNOWN TO MAN"
- 5730, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5"For the moment it makes crude plastic knick-knacks (sandals, coat hooks, door handles and fly-swatters"
Am i the only one that thinks people who photocopy their ass will have fun with this? - ChileanGoD, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3Besides replicating itself, what else does it do?
- wolfkeeper, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5It just reproduces itself... and eats people.
Why do you ask? ;-)- TheMachine1, on 07/05/2008, -1/+1No, No the latest version of the software has corrected the brain eating virus.
- wolfkeeper, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5It just reproduces itself... and eats people.
- Rikushix, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1For the record, 3D printers have been around for quite a while. But they're used primary for architectural models and prototypes. It's the concept of a self-replicating machine that is so revolutionary.
- flarn2006, on 07/05/2008, -1/+1Is there a video? Some people might want to see how robots have sex!
- solid12345, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Can it replicate the Snorg Tees girl for me to take home?
- bwdd, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2So it's a factory factory?
- vinceislegend, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3::Puts on tinfoil hat::
- r3negadeX, on 08/11/2008, -0/+3I believe they use similar machines to grow human tissue.
- jOOlian, on 07/05/2008, -2/+0Bleh another interesting topic that loses its interest in a long text document without any video....bleh...
- opticwind, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2I deem you...not a team player.
- TheMachine1, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1There are some videos on youtube.
http://youtube.com/user/adrianbowyer
- opticwind, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Machines building machine? Now that's just...well it sounds like something out of a terrible sci-fi movie.
- dubkat, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2Coffee. Black.
- ConfusedCartman, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5I see this becoming a household gadget in the next 50 years, just like the 2D printer became. Imagine buying something on the internet and then printing it out? Let's go one step further: imagine in 50 years being able to download a pirated blueprint of a product and printing it out, so you only have to pay for the materials required to build it? Can you imagine the impact that would have on the manufacturing industry? That ***** is bananas.
- crsdfr, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2The RepRap is an evolutionary project, it's designed to gradually become more capable as new versions of itself are developed, with higher tolerances, and wider ranges of materials.
I use SLS Machines daily at work for a living. I operate two Sinterstation 2500+'s capable of producing extremely robust, highly accurate, detailed models of any CAD you can throw at it. But the process is expensive, slow, and far too specialized to become a mainstream product that would allow the average person to make their own objects.
The RepRap (and other 3D printers like the ObJet and ZCorp) machines allow for far greater capabilities in prototyping than relatively 'old hat' technologies like SLS and even SLA. They are increasingly becoming cheaper and more capable, with the ability to print multiple material types in the same parts, achieving tolerances on par with established technologies and with far greater user operability.
The RepRap project may just be in its early stages, but it will be these efforts which will produce the technology to make 3D printing a reality for everyone with a computer. The possibilities will be huge.- LingNoi, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1I agree that the RepRap has potential but right now it's crap. I'd rather buy an expensive 3d printer, least it is useful.
- MrFurious2k, on 07/05/2008, -3/+1Color me unimpressed. Companies like StrataSys Inc have been doing this for a while (with various plastics and polymers). I'm hard pressed to figure out why this is news.
- Bobby1978, on 07/05/2008, -0/+0Unlimited Lego FTW!
- arfandualo, on 07/05/2008, -0/+0The future is gonna be pretty messy... How are they gonna control that you have real money and not printed ones, or real IDs, or real documentations or.... Oh wait, that happens nowadays too! Then its an awesome machine! But seriously, if we keep making such awesome robots by 2012 they are gonna be making us...
- HonoredMule, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2If they ever get a perfect, complete Von Neumann machine, they can start work on the coveted Rube Goldberg Von Neumann machine.
- Hurricane, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Making 3D models of some plastic parts (inferior from original) hardly makes a machine capable of producing metal parts, springs, electronis, motor windings, and assembling such things, that would constitute reproducing itself.
burried for lameness and inaccuracy - linuxpwns207, on 07/05/2008, -0/+0who would have thought. an asexual desktop printer. lol.
- sab0tage, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1I'd call it a good start, but hardly miraculous. A few people have pointed out that there have been rapid prototypers for a good while now, and of course that's true, but the main point is that the RepRap is an open system, and it only costs £250 for the parts, which puts it in hobbyist territory.
- ploink341, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1Sarah Conner where are you, the electronic poop is about to hit the fan!
- bwilson14, on 07/07/2008, -0/+0Open Sourcing this device is the worst possible thing that could have ever happened to humanity. People will create too many of them and they will take over the jobs of human beings. While it is natural for entrepreneurs to design devices to lower costs (and employees) this in particular must be managed so that their is not a catastrophic snowball effect that causes a depression.
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