Self replication

At the current rate of progress, how long do you think it will be until we have a device like the RepRap that is capable of fully replicating itself? Is that the ultimate goal of the RepRap project?

At the current rate of progress, how long do you think it will be until we have a device like the RepRap that is capable of fully replicating itself?

Unknown. And impossible to model. People start waving their hands and talking about nanotech.

It depends quite a bit on definitions, and if we're thinking about fabricating microchips, a self-drilling Eiffel, grey goo, bush robots, or a trained rabbit with a hot glue gun. (Rabbits are good self-replicators.)

Is that the ultimate goal of the RepRap project?

Yup. But things like Mendel or WolfStrap-English help us get there.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2010 02:55PM by SebastienBailard.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

At the current rate of progress it will be a long time, but a lot of people came onboard this past year so I expect the rate of progress will improve by quite a lot next year.

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Darwin clone, Gen 2 electronics, Arduino Duemilanove w/ AtMega328, 5D Firmware, Pinchwheel extruder
[www.codeerrors.com]

... i think i'm one of the most advanced here in respect of micro- and nanoassembly, mixed/smart materials, 'fabbing' electronics, and some other essentially methods for "real self-replication" ...

My bet is something between 10 and 40 years with the actual rate of progress in relevant themes.

Maybe even the biotech-gurus will beat us in this with an organic approach, where artificial molecules will self-assemble to form complex parts and structures, you can combine lego-like for specific hardware ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

My estimation would be all the mechanics being RP parts in less than 5 years - see the possibilities of Sarrus linkages - here is a link on thingiverse - or rack and pin.

However the electronics are much trickier - we need some complex metallic components. the closest thing to rp motor I have seen is this one. I think this could take closer to 20 years to get something practical, very hard to estimate this far in the future, depending on how successful the project is. I guess we will start by using bigger, more simple alternatives. For example maybe a linear actuator would be simpler to construct a printable version than a stepper motor.

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[jsrreprap.blogspot.com]

My estimation would be all the mechanics being RP parts in less than 5 years - see the possibilities of Sarrus linkages - here is a link on thingiverse - or rack and pin.

I think Frank Davies has moved his development and documentation to :
http://reprap.org/wiki/Sarrus_Z_Linkage
http://reprap.org/wiki/Sarrus_Z02
http://reprap.org/wiki/Sarrus_L04

That said, I don't have a current snapshot of his research and don't know when we'll be front-paging it.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!