RepRap Project
Encyclopedia
The RepRap project is an initiative to develop a 3D printer (RepRap, short for "replicating rapid prototyper") that can print most of its own components. As an open design
, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License
.
RepRap uses a variant of fused deposition modeling
, an additive manufacturing
technique.
To date, the RepRap project has released four 3D printing machines: "Darwin", released in March 2007, "Mendel", released in October 2009, "Prusa Mendel" and "Huxley" released in 2010. Developers have named each after famous biologists, as "the point of RepRap is replication and evolution".
Due to the self-replicating ability of the machine, authors envision the possibility to cheaply distribute RepRap units to people and communities, enabling them to create (or download from the internet) complex products without the need for expensive industrial infrastructure. They intend for the RepRap to demonstrate evolution
in this process as well as for it to increase in number exponentially.
, a Senior Lecturer in mechanical engineering
at the University of Bath
in the United Kingdom
.
23 March 2005: The RepRap blog is started.
13 September 2006: The RepRap 0.2 prototype successfully printed the first part of itself which was subsequently used to replace an identical part originally created by a commercial 3D printer.
9 February 2008: RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" had successfully made at least one instance of over half its total rapid-prototyped parts.
14 April 2008: Possibly the first end-user item is made by a RepRap: a clamp to hold an iPod
securely to the dashboard of a Ford Fiesta
.
29 May 2008: Within a few minutes of being assembled, the first completed "child" machine made the first part for a "grandchild" at the University of Bath
, UK.
23 September 2008: it is reported that at least 100 copies had been produced in various countries. The exact number of RepRap in circulation at that time is unknown.
30 November 2008: First documented "in the wild" replication occurs. Replication completed by Wade Bortz, the first user outside of the developers team to produce a complete set for another person.
20 April 2009: Announcement of first electronic circuit boards produced automatically with a RepRap. Using an automated control system and a swappable head system capable of printing both plastic and conductive solder. Part is later integrated into the RepRap that made it.
2 October 2009: The second generation design, called "Mendel", prints its first part. The Mendel's shape resembles a triangular prism
rather than a cube.
13 October 2009: RepRap 2.0 "Mendel" is completed.
27 January 2010: The Foresight Institute
announced the "Kartik M. Gada Humanitarian Innovation Prize" for the design and construction of an improved RepRap. There are two prizes, one of , and another of $80,000. The administration of the prize was later transferred to Humanity+.
31 August 2010: The third generation design, "Huxley", is officially named. Development is based on a miniaturized version of the Mendel hardware with 30% of the original print volume.
XYZ platform. The platform is built from steel rods and studding connected by printed plastic parts. All three axes are driven by stepper motor
s, in X and Y via a timing belt
and in Z by a leadscrew
.
At the heart of the RepRap is the thermoplastic extruder. Early extruders for the RepRap used a geared DC motor
driving a screw pressed tightly against plastic filament, forcing it past a heated melting chamber and through a narrow extrusion nozzle. However, due to their large inertia, DC motors cannot quickly start or stop, and are therefore difficult to control with precision. Therefore, more recent extruders use stepper motors (sometimes geared) to drive the filament, pressing the filament between a splined
or knurled
shaft and a ball bearing.
RepRap's electronics are based on the popular open-source Arduino
platform, with additional boards for controlling stepper motors. The current version electronics uses an Arduino-derived Sanguino motherboard, and an additional, customized Arduino board for the extruder controller. This architecture allows expansion to additional extruders, each with their own extruder controller.
Mendel replaced Darwin's sliding bearings with ball bearings, using an exactly constrained design that minimizes friction and tolerates misalignment. It also rearranged the axes, so that the bed slides in the horizontal Y direction, while the extruder moves up and down and in the X direction. This makes Mendel less top-heavy and more compact than Darwin, while also removing the overconstraint of Darwin's four Z axis leadscrews. The build envelope for Mendel is 200 mm (W) × 200 mm (D) × 140 mm (H) or 8" (W) × 8" (D) × 5.5" (H).
(CAD) in the form of a 3D modeling
system and computer-aided manufacturing
(CAM) software and drivers that convert RepRap users' designs into a set of instructions to the RepRap hardware that turns them into physical objects.
Two different CAM toolchains have been developed for the RepRap. The first, simply titled "RepRap Host", was written in Java
by lead RepRap developer Adrian Bowyer. The second, "Skeinforge", was written independently by Enrique Perez. Both are complete systems for translating 3D computer models into G-code
, the machine language that commands the printer.
Virtually any CAD or 3D modeling program can be used with the RepRap, as long as it is capable of producing STL
files. Content creators make use of any tools they are familiar with, whether they are commercial CAD programs, such as SolidWorks
, or open-source 3D modelling programs like Blender
.
, Polylactic acid
, and similar thermopolymers.
Polylactic acid has the engineering advantages of high stiffness, minimal warping, and an attractive translucent colour. It is also biodegradable and plant-derived.
Unlike in most commercial machines, RepRap users are encouraged to experiment with printing new materials and methods, and to publish their results. Methods for printing novel materials (such as ceramics) have been developed this way.
The RepRap project has not yet identified a suitable support material to complement its printing process.
Printing electronics is a major goal of the RepRap project so that it can print its own circuit boards. Several methods have been proposed:
) may be used to bootstrap the RepRap process by building RepRap parts. Many such machines are based around RepRap designs and use RepRap electronics. These are generally known by the name "RepStrap" (for "bootstrap RepRap") by the RepRap community. A RepStrap is any open-hardware rapid prototyping machine that makes RepRap parts and is itself made by fabrication processes which aren't under the RepRap umbrella yet. Some RepStrap designs are similar to Darwin or Mendel, but have been modified to be made from laser cut
sheets or milled parts. Others, such as the Makerbot
, share some design elements with the RepRap (especially electronics) but with a completely reconfigured mechanical structure.
Although the aim of the project is for RepRap to be able to autonomously construct much of its mechanical components in the near future using fairly low-level resources, several components such as sensors, stepper motors or microcontroller
s are currently non-replicable using the RepRap's 3D printing technology and therefore have to be produced independently of the RepRap self-replicating process. The goal is to asymptotically approach a 100% replication over a series of evolutionary generations. As one example, from the onset of the project the RepRap team has explored a variety of approaches to integrating electrically conductive media into the product. Success on this initiative should open the door to the inclusion of connective wiring
, printed circuit board
s and possibly even motors in RepRapped products. Variations in the nature of the extruded, electrically conductive media could produce electrical components with different functions from pure conductive traces, not unlike what was done in John Sargrove
's sprayed-circuit process of the 1940s (also known as Electronic Circuit Making Equipment or ECME). Printed electronics
is a related approach. Another non-replicable component is the threaded rods for the linear motions. A current research area is in using replicated Sarrus linkage
s to replace them.
Project sponsors include:
that "Rapid prototyping
and direct writing technologies are sufficiently versatile to allow them to be used to make a von Neumann Universal Constructor
".
The self-replicating nature of RepRap could also facilitate its viral dissemination and may well facilitate a major paradigm shift
in the design and manufacture of consumer products from one of factory production of patent
ed products to one of personal production of un-patented products with open specifications. Opening up product design and manufacturing capabilities to the individual should greatly reduce the cycle time for improvements to products and support a far larger diversity of niche products than the factory production run size can support.
Open design
Open design is the development of physical products, machines and systems through use of publicly shared design information. The process is generally facilitated by the Internet and often performed without monetary compensation...
, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.
RepRap uses a variant of fused deposition modeling
Fused deposition modeling
Fused deposition modeling is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used for modeling, prototyping, and production applications. The technology was developed by S...
, an additive manufacturing
Additive manufacturing
Additive manufacturing is defined by ASTM as the "process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies, such as traditional machining...
technique.
To date, the RepRap project has released four 3D printing machines: "Darwin", released in March 2007, "Mendel", released in October 2009, "Prusa Mendel" and "Huxley" released in 2010. Developers have named each after famous biologists, as "the point of RepRap is replication and evolution".
Due to the self-replicating ability of the machine, authors envision the possibility to cheaply distribute RepRap units to people and communities, enabling them to create (or download from the internet) complex products without the need for expensive industrial infrastructure. They intend for the RepRap to demonstrate evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
in this process as well as for it to increase in number exponentially.
History
RepRap was founded in 2005 by Dr Adrian BowyerAdrian Bowyer
Adrian Bowyer is a British engineer and mathematician, currently an academic at the University of Bath.Born in 1952 in London, Bowyer is the older child of the late Rosemary and John Bowyer; the latter was a writer, painter and one of the founders of Zisman, Bowyer and Partners, consulting engineers...
, a Senior Lecturer in mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
at the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
23 March 2005: The RepRap blog is started.
13 September 2006: The RepRap 0.2 prototype successfully printed the first part of itself which was subsequently used to replace an identical part originally created by a commercial 3D printer.
9 February 2008: RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" had successfully made at least one instance of over half its total rapid-prototyped parts.
14 April 2008: Possibly the first end-user item is made by a RepRap: a clamp to hold an iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
securely to the dashboard of a Ford Fiesta
Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a front wheel drive supermini/subcompact manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company and built in Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, China, India, Thailand and South Africa...
.
29 May 2008: Within a few minutes of being assembled, the first completed "child" machine made the first part for a "grandchild" at the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
, UK.
23 September 2008: it is reported that at least 100 copies had been produced in various countries. The exact number of RepRap in circulation at that time is unknown.
30 November 2008: First documented "in the wild" replication occurs. Replication completed by Wade Bortz, the first user outside of the developers team to produce a complete set for another person.
20 April 2009: Announcement of first electronic circuit boards produced automatically with a RepRap. Using an automated control system and a swappable head system capable of printing both plastic and conductive solder. Part is later integrated into the RepRap that made it.
2 October 2009: The second generation design, called "Mendel", prints its first part. The Mendel's shape resembles a triangular prism
Triangular prism
In geometry, a triangular prism is a three-sided prism; it is a polyhedron made of a triangular base, a translated copy, and 3 faces joining corresponding sides....
rather than a cube.
13 October 2009: RepRap 2.0 "Mendel" is completed.
27 January 2010: The Foresight Institute
Foresight Institute
The Foresight Institute is a Palo Alto, California-based nonprofit organization for promoting transformative technologies. They sponsor conferences on molecular nanotechnology, publish reports, and produce a newsletter....
announced the "Kartik M. Gada Humanitarian Innovation Prize" for the design and construction of an improved RepRap. There are two prizes, one of , and another of $80,000. The administration of the prize was later transferred to Humanity+.
31 August 2010: The third generation design, "Huxley", is officially named. Development is based on a miniaturized version of the Mendel hardware with 30% of the original print volume.
Hardware
As an open-source project designed to encourage evolution, many variations exist, and the designer is free to make modifications and substitutions as they see fit. However, RepRap 3D printers generally consist of a thermoplastic extruder mounted on a computer-controlled CartesianCartesian coordinate system
A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...
XYZ platform. The platform is built from steel rods and studding connected by printed plastic parts. All three axes are driven by stepper motor
Stepper motor
A stepper motor is a brushless, electric motor that can divide a full rotation into a large number of steps. The motor's position can be controlled precisely without any feedback mechanism , as long as the motor is carefully sized to the application...
s, in X and Y via a timing belt
Timing belt
A timing belt, or cam belt , is a part of an internal combustion engine that controls the timing of the engine's valves. Some engines, such as the flat-4 Volkswagen air-cooled engine, and the straight-6 Toyota F engine use timing gears...
and in Z by a leadscrew
Leadscrew
A leadscrew , also known as a power screw or translation screw, is a screw designed to translate turning motion into linear motion...
.
At the heart of the RepRap is the thermoplastic extruder. Early extruders for the RepRap used a geared DC motor
Brushed DC electric motor
A brushed DC motor is an internally commutated electric motor designed to be run from a direct current power source.-Simple two-pole DC motor:The following graphics illustrate a simple, two-pole, brushed, DC motor.DC Motor Rotation...
driving a screw pressed tightly against plastic filament, forcing it past a heated melting chamber and through a narrow extrusion nozzle. However, due to their large inertia, DC motors cannot quickly start or stop, and are therefore difficult to control with precision. Therefore, more recent extruders use stepper motors (sometimes geared) to drive the filament, pressing the filament between a splined
Rotating spline
Splines are ridges or teethon a drive shaft that mesh with grooves in a mating piece and transfer torque to it, maintaining the angular correspondence between them....
or knurled
Knurling
Knurling is a manufacturing process, typically conducted on a lathe, whereby a visually attractive diamond-shaped pattern is cut or rolled into metal.- Uses :...
shaft and a ball bearing.
RepRap's electronics are based on the popular open-source Arduino
Arduino
Arduino is an open-source single-board microcontroller, descendant of the open-source Wiring platform, designed to make the process of using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible. The hardware consists of a simple open hardware design for the Arduino board with an Atmel AVR...
platform, with additional boards for controlling stepper motors. The current version electronics uses an Arduino-derived Sanguino motherboard, and an additional, customized Arduino board for the extruder controller. This architecture allows expansion to additional extruders, each with their own extruder controller.
Major revisions
The first publicly-released RepRap, Darwin, has an XY gantry mounted above a moving Z-axis print bed. Darwin's Z axis is constrained by a leadscrew at each corner, all linked together by timing belts to turn in unison. Electronics are mounted on the steel supports of its cuboid exterior, and on a second platform at the base. In an effort to minimize the number of non-printed components (or "vitamins"), Darwin uses printed sliding contact bearings on all of its axes.Mendel replaced Darwin's sliding bearings with ball bearings, using an exactly constrained design that minimizes friction and tolerates misalignment. It also rearranged the axes, so that the bed slides in the horizontal Y direction, while the extruder moves up and down and in the X direction. This makes Mendel less top-heavy and more compact than Darwin, while also removing the overconstraint of Darwin's four Z axis leadscrews. The build envelope for Mendel is 200 mm (W) × 200 mm (D) × 140 mm (H) or 8" (W) × 8" (D) × 5.5" (H).
Software
RepRap has been conceived as a complete replication system rather than simply a piece of hardware. To this end the system includes computer-aided designComputer-aided design
Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
(CAD) in the form of a 3D modeling
3D modeling
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of object via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model...
system and computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a...
(CAM) software and drivers that convert RepRap users' designs into a set of instructions to the RepRap hardware that turns them into physical objects.
Two different CAM toolchains have been developed for the RepRap. The first, simply titled "RepRap Host", was written in Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
by lead RepRap developer Adrian Bowyer. The second, "Skeinforge", was written independently by Enrique Perez. Both are complete systems for translating 3D computer models into G-code
G-code
G-code is the common name for the most widely used computer numerical control programming language, which has many implementations. Used mainly in automation, it is part of computer-aided engineering. G-code is sometimes called G programming language...
, the machine language that commands the printer.
Virtually any CAD or 3D modeling program can be used with the RepRap, as long as it is capable of producing STL
STL (file format)
STL is a file format native to the stereolithography CAD software created by 3D Systems. This file format is supported by many other software packages; it is widely used for rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing. STL files describe only the surface geometry of a three dimensional...
files. Content creators make use of any tools they are familiar with, whether they are commercial CAD programs, such as SolidWorks
SolidWorks
SolidWorks is a 3D mechanical CAD program that runs on Microsoft Windows and is being developed by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, S. A. . SolidWorks is currently used by over 1.3 million engineers and designers at more than 130,000 companies worldwide...
, or open-source 3D modelling programs like Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...
.
Replication materials
RepRaps print objects from ABSAcrylonitrile butadiene styrene
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is a common thermoplastic. Its melting point is approximately 105 °C ....
, Polylactic acid
Polylactic acid
Poly or polylactide is a thermoplastic aliphatic polyester derived from renewable resources, such as corn starch , tapioca products or sugarcanes...
, and similar thermopolymers.
Polylactic acid has the engineering advantages of high stiffness, minimal warping, and an attractive translucent colour. It is also biodegradable and plant-derived.
Unlike in most commercial machines, RepRap users are encouraged to experiment with printing new materials and methods, and to publish their results. Methods for printing novel materials (such as ceramics) have been developed this way.
The RepRap project has not yet identified a suitable support material to complement its printing process.
Printing electronics is a major goal of the RepRap project so that it can print its own circuit boards. Several methods have been proposed:
- Wood's metalWood's metalWood's metal, also known as Lipowitz's alloy or by the commercial names cerrobend, bendalloy, pewtalloy or MCP 158, is a eutectic, fusible alloy with a melting point of approximately . It is a eutectic alloy of 50% bismuth, 26.7% lead, 13.3% tin, and 10% cadmium by weight. It...
or Field's metalField's metalField's metal, or Field's alloy is a fusible alloy that becomes liquid at approximately . It is a eutectic alloy of bismuth, indium, and tin, with the following percentages by weight: 32.5% Bi, 51% In, 16.5% Sn....
: low-melting point metal alloys to incorporate electrical circuits into the part as it is being formed. - Silver-filled polymers: commonly used for repairs to circuit boards and are being contemplated for use for electrically conductive traces.
- Direct extrusion of solder
- Conductive wires: can be laid into a part from a spool during the printing process
Construction
Other 3D printer designs (such as the commercial Makerbot) and parts constructed by other means (such as MeccanoMeccano
Meccano is a model construction system comprising re-usable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, with nuts and bolts to connect the pieces. It enables the building of working models and mechanical devices....
) may be used to bootstrap the RepRap process by building RepRap parts. Many such machines are based around RepRap designs and use RepRap electronics. These are generally known by the name "RepStrap" (for "bootstrap RepRap") by the RepRap community. A RepStrap is any open-hardware rapid prototyping machine that makes RepRap parts and is itself made by fabrication processes which aren't under the RepRap umbrella yet. Some RepStrap designs are similar to Darwin or Mendel, but have been modified to be made from laser cut
Laser cutting
Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to cut materials, and is typically used for industrial manufacturing applications, but is also starting to be used by schools, small businesses and hobbyists. Laser cutting works by directing the output of a high-power laser, by computer, at the...
sheets or milled parts. Others, such as the Makerbot
MakerBot Industries
MakerBot Industries is a Brooklyn, New York-based company founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith producing open source hardware, specifically 3D printers...
, share some design elements with the RepRap (especially electronics) but with a completely reconfigured mechanical structure.
Although the aim of the project is for RepRap to be able to autonomously construct much of its mechanical components in the near future using fairly low-level resources, several components such as sensors, stepper motors or microcontroller
Microcontroller
A microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a typically small amount of RAM...
s are currently non-replicable using the RepRap's 3D printing technology and therefore have to be produced independently of the RepRap self-replicating process. The goal is to asymptotically approach a 100% replication over a series of evolutionary generations. As one example, from the onset of the project the RepRap team has explored a variety of approaches to integrating electrically conductive media into the product. Success on this initiative should open the door to the inclusion of connective wiring
Electrical wiring
Electrical wiring in general refers to insulated conductors used to carry electricity, and associated devices. This article describes general aspects of electrical wiring as used to provide power in buildings and structures, commonly referred to as building wiring. This article is intended to...
, printed circuit board
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
s and possibly even motors in RepRapped products. Variations in the nature of the extruded, electrically conductive media could produce electrical components with different functions from pure conductive traces, not unlike what was done in John Sargrove
John Sargrove
John Sargrove was a British engineer and automation pioneer.- Life and career :His parents were ethnically Hungarian, and he was originally named John Adolphe Szabadi, but changed his name to Sargrove in 1938....
's sprayed-circuit process of the 1940s (also known as Electronic Circuit Making Equipment or ECME). Printed electronics
Printed electronics
Printed electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electrical devices on various substrates. Printing typically uses common printing equipment or other low-cost equipment suitable for defining patterns on material, such as screen printing, flexography, gravure, offset lithography and...
is a related approach. Another non-replicable component is the threaded rods for the linear motions. A current research area is in using replicated Sarrus linkage
Sarrus linkage
The Sarrus linkage, invented in 1853 by Pierre Frédéric Sarrus, is a mechanical linkage to convert a limited circular motion to a linear motion without reference guideways. The linkage uses two perpendicular hinged rectangular plates positioned parallel over each other...
s to replace them.
Project members
- Sebastien Bailard, Ontario
- Dr. Adrian BowyerAdrian BowyerAdrian Bowyer is a British engineer and mathematician, currently an academic at the University of Bath.Born in 1952 in London, Bowyer is the older child of the late Rosemary and John Bowyer; the latter was a writer, painter and one of the founders of Zisman, Bowyer and Partners, consulting engineers...
, Senior Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of BathUniversity of BathThe University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966.... - Michael S. HartMichael S. HartMichael Stern Hart was an American author, best known as the inventor of the electronic book and the founder of Project Gutenberg, a project to make ebooks freely available via the Internet...
, creator of Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
, Illinois - Dr. Forrest Higgs, Brosis Innovations, Inc., CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
- Rhys Jones, postgraduate, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Bath
- James Low, undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Bath
- Simon McAuliffe, New Zealand
- Vik Olliver, Diamond Age Solutions, Ltd., New Zealand
- Ed Sells, postgraduate, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Bath
- Zach Smith, United States
- Erik de Bruijn, The Netherlands
Project sponsors include:
- Reece Arnott
- The Bath University Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre
- The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilEngineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilThe Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences , mainly to universities in the United Kingdom...
- The Fluorocarbon Co. Ltd
- Michael Ingram
- Lukasz Kaiser
- The Nuffield FoundationNuffield FoundationThe Nuffield Foundation is a British charitable trust, established in 1943 by William Morris , the founder of the Morris Motor Company. Lord Nuffield wanted to contribute to improvements in society, including the expansion of education and the alleviation of disadvantage...
- Carl Witty
Goals
The stated goal of the RepRap project is to produce a pure self-replicating device not for its own sake, but rather to put in the hands of individuals anywhere on the planet, for a minimal outlay of capital, a desktop manufacturing system that would enable the individual to manufacture many of the artifacts used in everyday life. From a theoretical viewpoint, the project is attempting to prove the hypothesisHypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
that "Rapid prototyping
Rapid prototyping
Rapid prototyping is the automatic construction of physical objects using additive manufacturing technology. The first techniques for rapid prototyping became available in the late 1980s and were used to produce models and prototype parts. Today, they are used for a much wider range of applications...
and direct writing technologies are sufficiently versatile to allow them to be used to make a von Neumann Universal Constructor
Von Neumann universal constructor
John von Neumann's Universal Constructor is a self-replicating machine in a cellular automata environment. It was designed in the 1940s, without the use of a computer. The fundamental details of the machine were published in von Neumann's book Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata, completed in...
".
The self-replicating nature of RepRap could also facilitate its viral dissemination and may well facilitate a major paradigm shift
Paradigm shift
A Paradigm shift is, according to Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science...
in the design and manufacture of consumer products from one of factory production of patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed products to one of personal production of un-patented products with open specifications. Opening up product design and manufacturing capabilities to the individual should greatly reduce the cycle time for improvements to products and support a far larger diversity of niche products than the factory production run size can support.