Self-replicating, open source 3D printers
The RepRap (Replicating Rapid-prototyper) printer can replicate and update itself. It can print its own parts, including updates. The 3D printer works by building components up in layers of plastic, mainly polylactic acid (PLA), which is a bio-degradable polymer made from lactic acid
3D printer tech already exists, y’see – these guys want to make it available to anyone around the world, infinitely copyable (though I wonder where the natural resources will come from?)
It wants to make the machine available to anybody — including small communities in the developing world, as well as people in the developed world, says Olliver. Accordingly, the RepRap machine is distributed, at no cost, under the GNU (General Public Licence).
In the true spirit of open-source, it’s envisaged as perpetual beta
RepRap’s open-source project aims to keep on improving the machine. “So it can do what people want it to do”, says Olliver. Improvements will go back to users and, in this way, the machine as a whole evolves, he says. The idea of evolution is important, he adds. The device Olliver is creating now will probably bear very little resemblance to the device that will appear on everybody’s desks in the future, he says.
They’re making impressive steps forward. Mixing materials is the next frontier:
New features include, for example, heads that can be changed for different kinds of plastic. A head that deposits low melting-point metal is in development, he says. The metal melts at a lower temperature than that at which plastic melts, which means the metal can be put inside plastic, says Olliver. “That means, in theory, we could build structures like motors.”
RepRap also allows people to build circuits in 3D, as well as various shapes, with the result that objects, such as a cell phone, don’t have to be flat, he says.
Being able to design objects and print out prototypes anywhere around the world means you can email your friends/coworkers physical objects! But I’m more excited in its more revolutionary role, just hinted at by one of this amazing international group of engineers:
When Computerworld talked to him, Olliver had just printed out a small part to fix his blender.
Not only will this make it much easier for us to repair our devices (key to sustainable, eco living), but it changes the world we live in – it makes it a read/write world – one in which you learn how to build, to repair, to truly own your objects and appliances. It’s the world of the hobbyist, the do-it-all; it’s the death of professional segregation, exclusion, and knowledge silos. With this and the read-write, open, collaborative, sharing web (Wikipedia etc), it’s Ivan Illich‘s wet dream, and he can rest content in his grave.
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