A world where anyone can make anything
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What if instead of printing on bits of paper, you had a 3D
printer? A 3D printer that makes
real, robust, mechanical parts. You could make lots of useful stuff, but interestingly you could also make lots of the parts to make another 3D printer. A machine
that could copy itself.
In 2004 Dr Adrian Bowyer created this machine, RepRap, the Replicating Rapid-prototyper, humanity’s first self-replicating general-purpose manufacturing machine. The technology RepRap uses existed in 2004, but the cheapest proprietary machine then would have set you back £15,000. And it wasn’t even designed so that it could make itself. Now for around £400 you can build your own self-replicating machine! Science London have invited Adrian to talk about the development of RepRap, why his team are giving away the designs for free and the benefits to small communities in the developing world as well as individuals in the developed world. The RepRap machine is being distributed entirely free to everyone using open-source – so, if you have one, you can make another and give it to a friend… |
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Adrian Bowyer holds a first degree and a PhD in engineering from Imperial College. He was an academic at the University of Bath for 35 years, retiring from academic life in 2012 to help to run the company RepRap Professional Ltd. His areas of research are geometric modelling and geometric computing in general, the application of computers to manufacturing, and biomimetics.
Date: Wednesday 30th January 2013
Time: 7pm, for a 7.30pm start
Place: Upstairs at The Lamb, 92 Lambs Conduit Street, WC1N 3LZ [gmap]
Cost: Free
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