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Towards Self-Replicating Rapid Prototypers

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the tea-earl-grey-hot dept.

Neil Halelamien writes "Researchers at the University of Bath are developing a rapid prototyping machine capable of making copies of itself and other products, reminiscent of the Universal Constructor proposed by von Neumann. The so-called Replicating Rapid-Prototyper (or RepRap) would produce items from raw materials and small components like microchips. If successful, this could make rapid prototyping cheap enough for regular in-home usage, especially since the project's lead, Dr. Adrian Bowyer, will be releasing his project's designs under the GNU GPL. It's previously been proposed that a similar system would be useful for space exploration and industrialization."

19 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. And thus SKYNET was born... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Man, this is eerily like the Terminator plot...

  2. This is interesting by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Such a machine would have a number of interesting characteristics, such as being subject to Darwinian evolution, I have always been interested in applying evolution to computer chips - the randomness and efficiency of evolution is going to find better ways of doing things than our current methods, and is also just damn cool to know your computer chip is analogous to a living 'species'.

    1. Re:This is interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Darwin is alive and well in electronics manufacturing.

      This 'evolution' doesn't work because randomness is considered a defect. It's all about statistical process control - producing the exact same thing EVERY time. Any design that uses subcomponents depends on those components to serve a specific purpose, within a specified tolerance.

      One bit stuck on in a memory register, an OR gate where an AND gate should be in a FPGA or an extra flip-flop in the microcode implementation of a processor instruction will not miraculously turn a PC into some supercharged PC. These parts are flagged durring testing as a defective; then destroyed.

      In theroy one could take these manufacturing defects and test each one to probe for some new alternative use for the part. It's likely that this would be as fruitful as a million monkeys with typewritters trying to write shakespeare.

    2. Re:This is interesting by pintpusher · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I hope I'm remembering this correctly, 'cause if not someone will surely blast me for it... (If someone knows what I'm referring to, I'd love to get an update and accurate information.)

      Seems to me there was a bit about this years (like maybe 8 or 10 or more) ago where someone had built a bunch of simple boxes and set up a set of tasks for them to perform, a system for the box to re-write or evolve its own code, and a reward system for good performance.

      They let this dozen of so boxes percolate for a while and then cracked 'em open to see what they'd done.

      The machines had all come up with different methods of getting really good results for their assigned tasks. Further inquiry showed that the machiens were actually exploiting quantum level effects in their processors to maximize efficieny. The processors at the quantum level had significant differences or "flaws" and thus each box had come up with its own custom code exploiting these unique "flaws".

      The researchers were disappointed because they couldn't use the technique to automatically write super-efficient code as it would only work on the machine on which it was evolved.

      But still a cool concept with awesome ramifications -- it you extrapolate it into machines that can actually replicate themselves and not just their code, the possibilities seem mind-boggling. Machines replicating new machines with inherited quantum level traits with code optimized for those traits etc. etc. etc. yikes!

      --
      man, I feel like mold.
  3. bigger than fire by Hurklefish · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The only thing that worries me about self replicating machines is the "grey goo" problem. This is pretty much only an issue with nanotech replicators, I don't see it happening with this approach. For those not familiar with the term, the grey goo issue is when self replicating machines go out of control and turn everything into copies of themselves, rather than the target material. Altho the approach described in the article won't work with all metal alloys or glass, it's very likely that this type of machine could make molds. Making a negative of a 3d model isn't that much harder than making a positive. Anyone who's ever done any sand casting of metal will get the idea. Although the seed cost of 25k (pounds? what is that, about 40k usd?) might sound prohibitive to get the ball rolling, keep in mind that the cost of rapid prototyping machines has hit that price point only a short time after they cost millions. One of the great benefits of fabs like this would be a shift from mass production to single person production. Once everyone has a fab on their desktop, and a supply of low cost feedstock, the economy of scale that makes mass production a good idea no longer comes into play. If you want a set of plastic bowels, plastic toys, or whatever, they don't have to be the same as the rest of the production run, they can be made special just for you. If this is the case, perhaps the design behind the objects will become valuable. Anyone with a pc and the right software could become and industrial designer. I'm still eagerly awaiting the arrival of nanoassemblers, which I think will be bigger than fire, but this is an exciting development that could change a lot of things.

    1. Re:bigger than fire by crazyeddie740 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We're already headed that way without replicators. Manufacturing is getting more and more efficent (or being outsourced to regions with cheaper labor). The only jobs left behind are ones that require the human touch. Figuring out what to make. Figuring out how to sell it. And, of course, "Want fries with that?"

      Replicators will just speed up the process a tick.

  4. Huge economic change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A rapid prototyping machine that can reproduce itself is a kind of holy grail. When we get that, we have something that can bootstrap itself. This would be the Santa Claus machine that we have long dreamed of. One of the major proponents of this has been Don Lancaster. His site is the link below.

    www.tinaja.com/santa01.html

    Once everyone has a machine in their basement, the economy of the world will be turned on its ear. Consumer goods will cost only the price of their materials. The cheap labor advantage of India and China will vanish. The nature of products will change. Right now, it makes no sense to make something repairable. It is cheaper to build something that can't be fixed and throw it away. When we get very distributed manufacturing however, things will be built with only one or two raw materials. Things will be built so they are easy to assemble. It would make sense to build a new heating element for your coffee pot. Waste would go down. Recycling would become much more immediate and local. People would share designs the way we now share open source software. Quite a different world would result.

    1. Re:Huge economic change by Saeger · · Score: 2, Interesting
      If the make-anything machine uses a high enough amount of energy ...

      How much energy does it take nature to grow a potato using only sunlight and the available nutrients in soil and air? How much energy for it to be broken down in some animals stomach and eventually return to Earth? Ideally a make-anything replicator shouldn't be that much less efficient except for objects with molecular bonds that take much more energy to make and break, and even then, it only makes sense to break the object down into reusable-sized chunks vs component atoms.

      In fact, garbage dumps might become valuable mines of material.

      Well, there would certainly be a high concentration of the rarer elements like gold in a garbage dump, but the bread and butter construction material will be Carbon, and we currently burn most of that. We have a problem with too much CO2 greenhouse gas, but one day we might have the opposite problem if people are lazy and siphon off carbon from the atmosphere to manufacture their warez'd Hummer to go with their GPL'd castle in the middle of some cheap Canadian tundra realestate.

      --
      Power to the Peaceful
  5. Re:Great... by davburns · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And this just after Bruce Schnier posted a link to a how-to for destroying the Earth, which includes blackholes and von Neumann machines as methods.

  6. Not as close as the blub makes it seem. by PxM · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While the idea of a 3D printer cheap enough for personal use /is/ going to revolutionize the world by making certain real items as cheap as software, the part about it being a von Neumann machine is overrated. The article just mentions it in passing and there is no evidence that he's actually figured out how to do that. That's been one of the holy grails of engineering since it was proposed. The article doesn't mention whether the materials used will be recyclable. Since everyone and their grandmother will start spitting out objects if they have this and since it would probably be cheaper to build a new object rather than repairing an old one, mass use of UCs will produce tons of waste. Imagine if you could never delete any file on your computer but could create more easily. You would run out of space very quickly.

    BTW, for a good book on the social implications of cheap universal constructors, I suggest the Stephenson's book Diamond Age.

    --
    Want a free iPod?
    Or try a free Nintendo DS, GC, PS2, Xbox. (you only need 4 referrals)
    Wired article as proof

  7. Evolutionary Self Replication by ChiRaven · · Score: 2, Interesting
    One wonders if this is one more step on the road to the Vinge Singularity.

    http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/doc/vinge

    and then chose the html document.

  8. Already exists, it's called life by blahplusplus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Already exists, it's called life. Took us ... a few million years but we finally got around to getting to what life has had since well... 3 point something billion year ago.

  9. Re:Great... by ciroknight · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's funny that nobody has made the realization of how close we humans (and the collective other animals on the planet) are von Neumann Machines... The Matrix even hints at this, when Agent Smith calls us "viruses". Perhaps we should simply look at viruses and small bacteria and how they reproduce for ideas of how to build replicating machines.

    --
    "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
  10. Re:Thank goodness by Saeger · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I don't know how the copyright cartels would react if a machine could make illegal copies of itself.

    As molecular manufacturing(1) matures, I'd venture to guess that the new artificial scarcity cartels that emerge will be MUCH nastier. Something scary, like the MANWO (Manufacturers Association of the New World Order) :-)

    Right now the means of digital [re]production is available to all, and it's got a few copyright-extending control-freaks pissed about losing their empire. When you get to thinking about the implications of the means of physical [re]production being democratized, then you start getting dizzy wondering how society and the scarcity-based trade economy will reorganize itself (hopefully without much chaos).

    ((1)Note that this ultimate goal is now called "molecular manufacturing", since the previous general term of "nanotechology" has been co-opted by buzzword PR people to mean whatever they want it to mean.)

    --
    Power to the Peaceful
  11. Re:Short perusal, questions remain... by peggus · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I have for the past few weeks been evaluating all currently available rapid prototyping machines and technologies since we intend to purchase one at work. So let me try to answer your questions.

    1) What is this thing capable of making (besides itself)?
    Not even that. Almost all rapid prototyping machines can only print in one material at a time, usually some form of plastic. The resolution and material properties are not good enough to build any complicated mechanical parts such as the XYZ tables used in the dimension printer -- visible in one of the pictures in the artice.
    You might be able to create a poorly functioning rapid prototyping (RP) printer by using several different RP technologies, the question is why you'd want to. The build time is usually counted in days for any larger part, say 12*12*12 inches. It would take months to build a refridgerator sized machine. Then you'd still have to assemble it manually anyway.
    Standard manufacturing technologies would be much cheaper and faster.
    2) How much human effort is involved in getting it to make anything? (ie: what resources are required, how must they be arranged, can this thing build several instances at once, or must it be "refilled" every go round...)
    They're usually loaded with a cartridge, powder or fluid of material depending on the technology. You'll have to reload the material manually between builds. The material is usually quite expensive compared to say ABS plastic used for injection molding. As one of the salesmen we talked to told us: "We make the money on the material not the printer". This guy was from dimension printers, their machines incidentally prints ABS plastic parts.
    The software side takes any 3d model in STL format and prints it, no or little manual work is required.
    3) How many of us (if any) got viruses from downloading and reading that word document on his website?
    Dont's use word!
  12. Didn't RTFA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    But just look at how our DNA is duplicated...

  13. Lazy machine paradox? by Mortiss · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I have read about a paradox in one of the classic sci-fi novels (Stanislaw Lem's) i presume...

    To cut hte story short they (constructors) had a machine which could do anything (including replicating items etc) . The machine was set on an a nearly impossible task and rather then trying to solve it it started making copies of itself to bum off that job on the next one in line ad infinitum.

    I foresee a grey goo future.

  14. Von Neumann machines? by Grench · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "My God! It's full of stars!"

    Everyone quotes Terminator and Stargate, but the classic cinematic portrayal of a von Neumann machine was the Monolith as seen in "2010: The Year We Made Contact".

    The Monolith turned out to be a self-replicating multipurpose tool, and was described by Dr. Floyd as a von Neumann machine.

    --
    He's Jesus, for Christ's sake.
  15. Asimov hit this topic? by Orne · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I recall reading in my middle-school years (aka junior high) a rather unique story about replicating robots. The story was written in the 1960s-1970s

    Essentially, the premise is that a meteor falls out of the sky one night, where it is observed by a few people. When they arive at the site, it is bustling with miniature robots. They call the government, and the gov shows up to observe, but by then the robots have built little buildings. Some robots are strip-mining, and they eventually build a little refinery, then more robots, then a bigger refinery... and a launch pad. By the end of the story (and by the time anyone realized they were in danger), the robots had built themselves little rockets, and were now shooting their seeds of new robot colonies around the country, soon to dominate the world, totally dispassionate for whatever was there to begin with... it just wasn't in their programming.

    To boil the story down, some long forgotten alien race had created the ultimate automated factory, traveling from star system to star system to collect rare materials, and ship it back for the long ride home at sub-light speeds. Its a self propagating system, that as they spread from system to system, asteroid to moon to planet, the geometric growth would provide their civilization every material they would ever need...