Self-reproducing robot launched

A university will display a robot capable of replicating its own parts at a science festival.

Dr Adrian Bowyer, from the University of Bath, will show the prototype machine, which prints 3D objects, at Cheltenham Science Festival.

The machine, named RepRap, works similarly to a printer, but rather than squirting ink on to paper, it puts down thin layers of molten plastic which solidify. These layers are built up to make three-dimensional objects.

RepRap has, so far, been capable of making everyday plastic goods such as door handles, sandals and coat hooks, the university said.

Now the machine has also succeeded in copying all its own 3D-printed parts.

These parts have been printed and assembled by a RepRap team in Auckland, New Zealand, into a new RepRap machine.

In theory, the university said, the robot could replicate the same set of parts for yet another RepRap machine and continue to do so indefinitely.

While 3D printers have been available commercially for about 25 years, RepRap is the first that can essentially print itself, the university claimed.

Dr Bowyer, a senior lecturer in engineering in the faculty of engineering and design at the University of Bath, said: "These days, most people in the developed world run a professional-quality print works, photographic lab and CD-pressing plant in their own house, all courtesy of their home PC.

"Why shouldn't they also run their own desktop factory capable of making many of the things they presently buy in shops, too? The possibilities are endless. Now people can make exactly what they want."

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?