Re: Soliciting Feedback: OS Design

Bordering on OT but an interesting discussion.

Machines now are certainly capabable of replicating themselves. I
would be far more interested in a machine that could make itself
functionally more superior :)

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "Dennis Schmitz"
<denschmitz@...> wrote:

>
> A couple of years back, I saw a project being done out of a

university

> that was a first attempt at a self-replicating robot. The idea was
> that it would use various plastics and metals to create circuits

and

> other parts. The idea was far to ambitious to succeed today, but it
> got me thinking.
>
> A first step toward such a thing, and indeed toward a completely

self

> replicating factory might be a machine tool that would ship with
> complete plans to make all of the parts of itself. Sure, this ruins
> the business models of a company that might want to sell them, but
> that's not the point, rather the point is, is it feasible?
>
> A complete machine would need lots of electronics and proprietary

CAD

> software to build, but that can all be bought off-the-shelf,

making it

> conceivable that once you have a machine, you can make more of them
> with it.
>
> Sticking with mechanical stuff (because manufacturing multilayer

PWBs

> is still difficult), what would such a machine look like? How many

of

> the parts could be made with milling and lathe operations? Is free
> motion control software mature enough? What CAD formats should be
> used? How can we reduce the number of different materials required?
> Could enough people get interested in it to create a
> electro-mechanical equivalent of open-source software?
>
> I'm just interested in your thoughts about what it would take to

build

> a basic machine assuming you can buy some stuff like motors and

screws

> and single-board computers.
>
> What about licensing? Would people put up with software that
> occasionally insisted on building a spare part?
>
> Imagine 20 or 100 years out, could this base design evolve into
> something truly automatic, say garage sized, that had the

capability

> to create everything necessary to make itself, including
> semiconductors. Assuming it could create all kinds of other stuff,
> from watches to cars, how would this change the world? Do we really
> want to give every tinkerer or psychotic teenager the ability to

build

> a fighter jet or nuke from scratch?
>
> What should it be called? (I'm partial to simple names

like "Factory v0.001")

>
> Sorry if my random Sunday daydreams bore you -- feel free to

ignore.

>