User:Bbv5002
Benjamin Visnesky
Sophomore at The Pennsylvania State University studying Mechanical Engineering
Blog Post #1 - September 4, 2012 - Exploring Thingiverse
Thingiverse.com is a very cool website on which anyone can contribute designs for a wide variety of objects, which users of the site can then download and create using a 3D printer. I found exploring Thingiverse to be a great exercise in discovering the great variety of things that can be 3D printed, both useful and useless. These are just a few of the notable designs that I found while browsing the site.
Thing 1 (Useful) - Camera Lens Cover
~ This is a lens cap for a small, pocketable camera designed to prevent the lens damage while being carried in one's pocket. It is a one piece print and requires only minimal assembly.
Thing 2 (Artistic/Beautiful) - Fractal Lamp Shade
~ This is a lamp shade created to mimic the appearance of a fractal pattern. Because of its intricate features, I think it would be a very complex and difficult print, but at least one user in the Thingiverse community as successfully managed to print the design.
Thing 3 (Pointless/Useless) - 'Fire'
~ I suppose that some things are designed and created just for fun. This printable 3D 'fire' is a great example of that. Beyond having no actual purpose, in my opinion it does not really look all that much like fire...
Thing 4 (Funny) - Decorative Garden Frogs
~ These little decorative garden frogs are a good example of the more comical side of things that can be 3D printed. I find these frogs to be funny simply because of their goofy, quirky appearance. These frogs are also interesting, however, because the .stl files for them were made using a program called 123D Catch, which turns a set of 2D pictures of an item into a 3D rendering of that item. At least in this instance, the program worked extremely well.
Thing 5 (Weird) - Strange Sculpture
~ This is a thing that was derived from a statue of a lion that was posted to Thingiverse by another user, but was altered to feature a different head. As noted in the comments on the design, the head seems to resemble a young Frank Sinatra or perhaps Lee Harvey Oswald. Needless to say, it is a strange thing.
Blog Post #2 - September 9, 2012 - RepRap Background: Then, Now, and in the Future
Universal Constructors
A Universal Constructor, as originally proposed by John Von Neumann, is an idea that, to most people, sounds like something out a science fiction film. A machine that can replicate itself? Impossible! There are, however, varying degrees of self replication. As Adrian Bowyer points out in his background piece on the RepRap wiki, Wealth Without Money, the initial idea for the Universal Constructor was something that could make its own parts and assemble them as well. This is a lofty goal, though, and as such, there are some things that only fulfill one component of the original Universal Constructor idea; some things can make their own parts, but cannot self assemble those parts, or vice versa. The RepRap project itself is a good example of a machine that can make its own parts, but is unable to assemble itself without the help of an outside party. However, just because that is as far as we have come to creating an ideal Universal Constructor so far does not mean that the original idea is not possible. The biggest obstacle to the achievement of this goal is technology itself. There are machines and technologies in existence today that a hundred years ago people would have considered magic or voodoo. In order to create a true self replicating machine, it will need to be possible to simply have raw materials available for the machine to process and turn into more self replicating machines. There are likely a multitude of ways in which this could occur, whether through artificial intelligence or advances in material sciences. Regardless, the main limitations to a true Universal Constructor coming to fruition is the current technology and the amount of time and money put into research and development of the idea.
"Wealth Without Money"
The phrase "Wealth Without Money" is an interesting concept. In today's society, most people consider wealth to be the equivalent of money; if you have a lot of nice things, a big house, lots of shares in a valuable stock, or even a stockpile of cash, you are considered to be wealthy. However, this phrase debunks that idea. With the idea of a Universal Constructor and the continued development of the RepRap project, soon wealth will not be the same as having a lot of money because the things that a person would buy with their money today, they will simply make with their Universal Constructor tomorrow. The implications of this idea, that anyone will someday be able to make anything, are resounding. If a person can make their own goods instead of buying them from a manufacturer who mass produces the same goods, it is great for the consumer because it is cheaper and requires only time and raw materials, but it is horrible for companies that manufacture goods and their employees because they no longer have a business. Furthermore, because of the prominence of the internet and file sharing, anybody with a Universal Replicator would literally be able to manufacture anything. As a result, anyone with access to the technology would be in effect infinitely wealthy. They could make whatever their heart desires with no regard for how much money it costs because cost would be a non-issue. To be honest, this idea is a great one, but a dangerous one. The possibilities are wide ranging and could have dire implications. For example, what happens when normal people start making weapons of mass destruction, or even just hand guns. These are things ideas that will need to be dealt with for the technology to be both successful and safe.
The Future of RepRap
In the years since its inception, the 3D printing and RepRap community have come a long way. However, the strides that have already been taken in the development of the technology are less an indication of its current greatness than the greatness it could one day embody. Today's 3D printers, for example, are not true Universal Constructors because they are unable to assemble themselves. With the continued development of the technology and input from the greater community, though, that could very well change. Someday RepRaps and 3D printers may be able to literally print out a working copy of themselves. Furthermore, more and more uses of the technology are being thought of. Innovators in the architectural and civil engineering fields have already adapted the technology, to an extent, in order to print out actual scale buildings and structures. Though the structure in this article is only a monument, modern art type of creation, someday the technology could allow for much more. Just think, being able to print an entire skyscraper with HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems integrated directly into the structural components and walls of the building. Construction crews could be a thing of the past. This application, however, is only one of the nearly infinite possible uses of the 3D printing and RepRap technologies. It could also be used to create ornate drawings and paintings, make foods, or manufacture just about anything. The possibilities are nearly limitless.
