1. Machines That Make Machines Adrian Bowyer Bath University, U.K. FAB5: The Fifth International Fab Lab Forum and Symposium on Digital Fabrication, Pune, August 20 2009

2. Almost all machines are made by machines

3. Machines that make themselves Penrose replicating shapes (1950s) Bob Freitas and Ralf Merkle: Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines http://www.molecularassembler.com/KSRM.htm

4. Symbiosis nectar <> reproduction

5. Suppose we made a machine that: ● Self-replicated almost all its parts ● Existed symbiotically with people, giving them goods in return for being helped to replicate (like flowers)... ● Evolved by being bred

6. Suppose we made a machine that: ● Self-replicated almost all its parts ● Existed symbiotically with people, giving them goods in return for being helped to replicate (like flowers)... ● Evolved by being bred RepRap - The Replicating Rapid Prototyper

7. FFF rapid prototyping Fused Filament Fabrication

8. Rapid-prototyped write-head

9. Rapid-prototyped X, Y, Z robot

10. Parent Child made first grandchild part: 14:00 UTC 29 May 2008

11. RepRap is free hardware ● The only way to stop there being HAVES and HAVE-NOTS ● If something copies itself, you must give it away, anyway.

12. Exponential growth 10,000 per hour Say the RepRap machine takes two days to copy itself, and to make one comb...

13. Evolution ● People will improve the design. ● Improvements will be posted back on the Web. ● Old machines can make new designs. ● Breeding – speed, simplicity, accuracy, fewer added parts...

14. Economics ● Once you have one, you can have any number. ● Selling RepRap services, not the machine. ● Cost of raw materials, motors, chips etc: ● ~ $600

15. Environment ● Material supply - biomass. ● Bringing manufacturing to the poorest people. ● Making manufacturing like agriculture. ● Recycling.

16. My second reprapped product

17. Other reprapped products http://thingiverse.com

18. The Future? ● Millions of people run their own: ● CD pressing plant

19. The Future? ● Millions of people run their own: ● CD pressing plant ● Photographic laboratory

20. The Future? ● Millions of people run their own: ● CD pressing plant ● Photographic laboratory ● Printing press

21. Why not their own factory...

22. ...that makes more factories?

23. Project website: http://reprap.org