Open Source Self-Replicating Robot

Josilot writes "CNN.Com is running an article about a new self-replicating robot named RepRap. From the article: 'A revolutionary machine that can copy itself and manufacture everyday objects quickly and cheaply could transform industry in the developing world, according to its creator.' One part of the article that I think many slashdot readers will find interesting is near the bottom: 'To encourage that development, Bowyer plans to make the design of the RepRap available online and free to use, in the same way as open source software such as the Linux operating system or Mozilla's Firefox browser.' Is robotics the next big field for open source?"

Movie

[PxM]

Instead of posting the obvious joke about dupes, here's a link to the movie [cornell.edu] form the previous story. (Coral link [nyud.net])

Re:please..

[Billy the Mountain]

It may sound cheap to you. But consider this:
A laser need not necessarily put out much power to fuse even metal, if the metal powder is already close to melting point to begin with. An existing prototyping system uses this approach to create customized metal objects.

BTM

Self-replicating?

[nacturation]

We've had 3D printers for quite a while now which basically form shapes by laying down a thin layer of sand-like or metallic powder, followed by a thin layer of glue, etc. You then use compressed air to blow away the sand layers which don't have glue and voila... a 3D shape and quite sturdy. You can make some parts which are impossible using other methods.

However, I missed the part in the press release, er... story where they are self-assembling. Sure, you can have a machine feed in a design and print something out, but what about assembly? Yes it can print circuits, but does this thing add motors, insert batteries, or plug its power into the wall? And will it feed the newly created copy with the source of materials, etc. it needs to make another copy? Let me know when we get a machine which can create an copy of itself and, without any human intervention, that just-created copy makes another copy.

Weak

[Illserve]

It's apparently a robot that can make circuit boards, and that's it. There are about 50 million steps involved in making itself, this can do one of them.

Thx media hype, call me when something interesting happens.

URL http://reprap.org/

[urbieta]

http://reprap.org/ [reprap.org]

the blog is cool too

http://reprap.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]

This would make a better type of bot wars, building their weapons with available materials and blasting each other with them heh