Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
RepRap: Self-Replicating Rapid Prototyping
A self-replicating, rapid prototyping machine under development at the University of Bath in England could transform the nature of manufacturing. People could produce everyday household objects in their own homes and put them together.
(RepRap Rapid Prototype printed circuitry onto autonomous robot)
Printing in three dimensions - sometimes called "rapid prototyping" - is coming down in price. Small machines cost at least $25,000 and the materials used (usually a kind of plastic) cannot be used to manufacture everything you need. The machines are most often used to create draft copies - prototypes - of objects that will later be created at greater expense with other materials.
The key innovations offered by RepRap are
- the use of open-source software to create parts and operate machines,
- designing the printing unit to be replicatable, and
- limiting the system to creating pieces to be assembled, rather than whole devices
“People have been talking for years about the cost of these machines dropping to be about the same as a computer printer,” said Dr Bowyer. “But it hasn’t happened. Maybe my idea will allow this to occur.”“The most interesting part of this is that we’re going to give it away,” he said. “At the moment an industrial company consists of hundreds of people building and making things. If these machines take off, it will give individual people the chance to do this themselves, and we are talking about making a lot of our consumer goods – the effect this has on industry and society could be dramatic.”
The replicator would be a refrigerator-sized machine that would be a form of Universal Constructor, proposed in theory by John von Neumann in the 1950's.
In his famous 1984 novel Neuromancer, William Gibson mentioned the idea of a nanofax that would allow convenience stores to literally print out what you wanted from a catalog, rather than needing to transport and store lots of different products.
Science fiction readers may also remember what was probably the first reference to a self-reproducing factory or manufacturing environment in science fiction - the autofac from his 1955 short story of the same name.
Read more at New machines could turn homes into small factories, 3D printer to churn out copies of itself and the RepRap website.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/25/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...' - Fritz Leiber, 1968
Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...' - Philip K. Dick, 1966
Carpentopod Walking Table
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...' - Frank Stockton, 1897.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons
'The remotely-operated robot tank is an old idea...'
3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea
'The autofreighter smashed into the boat...'
Carpentopod Walking Table
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations
'You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now.'
SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
Robot Janitors Get To Work
'A few mechanical cleaning devices crept here and there...'
Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons
'That little robot rabbit knew what it was talking about...'
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
