StarTrek Replicator? This Could Be Big.

metatron

see:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/01/24/161240/pirate-bay-to-offer-physical-item-downloads

Imagine transmitting a physical object over IP, that is, the internet.

metatron

Norcal_Sun

Can you explain how this works? I tried to read the article but its not sinking in, lol. What is a 3d printer???

3-D printers are getting cheaper. They are devices that can be programmed to create a 3 dimensional object, just as a regular printer makes a 2 dimensional image. So far, they just make plastic stuff.

For industrial applications, some of these 'printers' are doing amazing things like building a plastic car, one layer at a time. Pirate Bay offers downloadable files to make stuff with these 'printers'.

metatron

Norcal_Sun

That is pretty sweet. I look forward to the day I can say "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot" Like Capt. Picard :)

bats in the belfry

Check out this one > www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ-aWFYT_SU

Jeffro

Basically, 3D printers focus 2 (or more) lasers on areas of a liquid or powdered polymer. The polymer fuses together only where the beams intersect. Using this method, objects can be created that cannot easily be created using other methods, such as interlocking parts that are already connected.

They are good for creating models or prototypes, but are not suitable for creating parts that are used under excessive stress (pressure, heat etc).

(The method in the youTube video uses a powdered polymer and a binding agent rather than the laser method.)

Phizzy

Amazing stuff ! man just does not stop innovating !

snare&racket

This stuff has been around since the 80's its basically a digital lathe, you put a block of plastic in and it cuts away to your design, or the modern ones spray a jet similar to ink, of plastic to form the design then trims it.

Exciting for budding inventors etc but not really anywhere near a replicator ;)

Wont be long though, we have already made a teleporter that can transport individual atoms. A cup of coffee and even us humans (memory included) are just jigsaws of atoms, when they make a machine that can examine our full atomic makeup and another machine that can arrange atoms in the exact same way we will have our teleporter and replicator. The cool thing is no electron can occupy the same energy level in the universe, so as one version of us (or the coffee) forms, the other will be destroyed.

We would be recreated with the same personality and memories as these are just protein structures made of atoms, unique in our brain. Coooool

Google "Teleporting Atoms" and enjoy ....

james_woods

Isn't this how the Fly monster got created?

Seriously, for a realistic discussion of this, physicist Lawrence Krauss has two excellent books - "The Physics of Star Trek" and "Beyond Star Trek" which describe the difficulties involved in an actual transporter or replicator.

The machine described here is just a CNC (computerized numerical control) device which makes parts.

journey-on

I was begging for this 3 years ago! http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/154272/1/I-WANT-A-STAR-TREK-REPLICATOR

StarTrek Replicator? This Could Be Big.

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