Slashdot Mirror
Machine Prints 3D Copies Of Itself
TaeKwonDood writes "Automated machines have been around for decades. They have basically been dumb devices that do simple assembly tasks. But RepRap takes that a step further because, instead of assembling pre-fabricated parts, it creates 3-D objects by printing them — squirting molten plastic in layers — and then building them up as the plastic solidifies. It works on coat hooks, door handles and now it can even make working copies ... of itself. The miracle of additive fabrication, coming soon to a robotic overlord near you."
While I appreciate the commercial benefit of this technology, the geek in me is a little more interested in the advancement toward the robot invasion. And by "interested" I meant "excited."
I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar
Yep. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/07/210205
This is take piracy to a whole new level. What fun.
Great, now even the articles are making copies of themselves!
I have some old Natalie Portman's pics to print out!
Dawkins Revisited: A person is shit's way of making more shit -- Steve Barnett, anthropologist.
Won't everyone just buy one, make it clone itself and then send it back for a full refund?
Can it sniff out nearby objects/people, ingest them, shred/melt them down to create new raw materials for buildling copies of itself? Thought not. We're safe... for now...
From the pictures in the article it seems to mostly consist of small metal pipes, with pieces of plastic connecting them.... from what I gather it's only able to print the plastic connection parts, so I'm not sure how this counts as "self-replicating".
:)
Also it has a big bunch of wires coming out the back, which I bet are not replicated either... so someone was jumping the gun a bit while writing this article
Still... this is some seriously cool technology... if the resulting plastic parts are strong / durable enough it could certainly have a huge impact... essentially being able to download physical objects from the internet...
PageTurner Reader: open-source e-reader for Android with cloudsync. http://pageturner-reader.org
Lord Vader our troops are almost ready but I gotta run to staples to get some more of that plastic injection stuff for the printer.
"Knock, knock"
"Who's there?"
"Candygram"
"You're not a self-replicating cybernetic organism?"
"No, ma'am"
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
It can't even print itself as it still requires non-printed parts.
*Aside from common stuff from a hardware store and an electronics store.
(Yes, I'm a RepRap developer, and yes, that's a cut-and-paste.)
You comment to this dupe article is is a dupe of my comment in the original article:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=514462&cid=22998000
I for one welcome our new self-replicating Slashdot article overlords!
:(){
What it does is print the plastic parts needed to make a copy of itself - you still need steel rods, motors, nuts and bolts, nichrome wire to make the heater core and a handful of small Anduino circuit boards. And of course you have to bolt it together yourself. Pretty soon it should be able to make its own circuit boards - but you'll still need to add electronic components.
It's a significant step - but the slashdot blurb wildly over-sells it.
Professor Farnsworth: It can do other things, why shouldn't it!
I love the idea of the RepRap as much as the next geek. But it's been posted on Slashdot at least three times that I can recall, and the headline or summary has always claimed, as this one does also, the factually incorrect statement that the "Machine Prints 3D Copies Of Itself". It doesn't. It's cool and all, and it's getting there, but it doesn't.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Perhaps this criticism is extremely common because someone keeps claiming that RepRap is self replicating, when in fact it is not?
First, I love the idea of the RepRap and am seriously thinking of building one.
But really, claiming self-replication here is only slightly less laughable than someone claiming their inkjet printer is "self-replicating" because it can print the manual that comes in the box.
What we need is *quantification* - numbers. For example, choose one of the following measures:
* part count
* part cost
* part mass
* part compexity (harder to measure, but this is what really counts)
and then find the value of X in this statement:
"RepRap is X% self-replicating by [measure]"
My guess is that even by the most favorable measure (probably mass), the number is well under 50%, and by other measures it's under 10%.
But progress will be made, the value of X will increase, and that's what matters. Publicizing new values of X will attract attention and pique interest. Making unquantified claims of "self-replication" mostly just invites the fussing you're complaining about.
Perhaps, in lieu of making copies of itself, it just dupes articles about itself on /.