Self Replicating Machine: Fundamentals and Applications

By Fouad Sabry

What Is Self Replicating Machine

A self-replicating machine is a sort of autonomous robot that is capable of reproducing itself autonomously utilizing raw materials available in the environment. As a result, a self-replicating machine demonstrates self-replication in a manner that is akin to that which may be found in nature. The idea of self-replicating machines has been developed and investigated by Homer Jacobson, Edward F. Moore, Freeman Dyson, John von Neumann, and Konrad Zuse, as well as more recently by K. Eric Drexler in his book on nanotechnology titled Engines of Creation, as well as by Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle in their review Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines, which provided the first comprehensive analysis of the entire replicator design space. The future development of such technology is an essential component of a number of schemes involving the extraction of ore and other resources from moons and asteroid belts, the establishment of manufacturing facilities on the moon, and even the building of solar power satellites in space. These plans are all reliant on the future progress of this technology. The von Neumann probe is a conceptual illustration of one hypothetical example of such a machine. In addition to this, Von Neumann worked on a project that he referred to as the universal constructor. This was a self-replicating machine that would be capable of evolving, and it was an environment that was codified using cellular automata. Notably, Von Neumann's Self-Reproducing Automata scheme proposed that in order for open-ended evolution to occur, inherited information must be copied and passed on to offspring in a manner that is distinct from the self-replicating machine. This realization came before Watson and Crick's discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule and how it is independently translated and replicated in the cell.

How You Will Benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Self-replicating machine

Chapter 2: Molecular nanotechnology

Chapter 3: Robert Freitas

Chapter 4: Ralph Merkle

Chapter 5: Self-replication

Chapter 6: Von Neumann universal constructor

Chapter 7: Self-replicating spacecraft

Chapter 8: Molecular assembler

Chapter 9: Mechanosynthesis

Chapter 10: Nanorobotics

(II) Answering the public top questions about self replicating machine.

(III) Real world examples for the usage of self replicating machine in many fields.

(IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of self replicating machine' technologies.

Who This Book Is For

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of self replicating machine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jul 2, 2023

Book preview

Chapter 1: Self-replicating machine

A self-replicating machine is a sort of autonomous robot that is capable of reproducing itself autonomously utilizing raw materials available in the environment. As a result, a self-replicating machine demonstrates self-replication in a manner that is akin to that which is seen in nature. The idea of self-replicating machines has been developed and investigated by Homer Jacobson, Edward F. Moore, Freeman Dyson, and John von Neumann, as well as more recently by K. Eric Drexler in his book on nanotechnology titled Engines of Creation (he coined the term clanking replicator for machines of this kind), as well as by Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle in their review Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines. In more recent times, the idea has

An artificial self-replicating system that depends on traditional large-scale technologies and automation is referred to as a self-replicating machine. Although the idea of a self-replicating machine dates back more than seven decades, no such machine has yet been seen in the wild. In the course of reading various works of literature, you could come across a few words that are uniquely yours. For instance, Drexler Von Neumann once referred to such self-replicating machines as clanking replicators. Von Neumann himself preferred to use the term universal constructor to refer to these kinds of devices.

Even before the advent of numerical control, historians of machine tools have used the term reproduce themselves to refer to the capacity of machine tools to make exact copies of all of its component components. This characteristic makes machine tools stand out as a distinct category of machines. It is assumed throughout these talks that a person would be in charge of directing the cutting operations (and, subsequently, designing and programming the machines) and would afterwards be responsible for assembling the components. The same may be said about RepRaps, which are an additional category of devices that are often cited in connection with such non-autonomous self-replication. In contrast, the primary focus of this article is on robots that are actually capable of reproducing themselves on their own (similar to biological machines).

The idea that artificial devices could one day be able to replicate themselves has been around for at least several hundred years.

An early reference is an anecdote regarding the philosopher René Descartes, Who was it who first proposed to Queen Christina of Sweden that the human body may be considered a machine?; Her response was to gesture to a clock while issuing the command, see to it that it reproduces offspring.

A detailed conceptual proposal for a self-replicating machine was first put forward by mathematician John von Neumann in lectures delivered in 1948 and 1949. At that time, he proposed a kinematic model of self-reproducing automata as a thought experiment. Von Neumann's proposal was the first time a self-replicating machine was discussed in detail.

Edward F. Moore, a mathematician, made what is believed to be the first known idea for a self-replicating mechanism that may be used in the actual world in 1956. This concept was also reported in Scientific American. Moore's artificial living plants were envisioned as machines that could use air, water, and soil as sources of raw materials and draw their energy from the sun using a solar battery or a steam engine. These artificial living plants would also be able to use air, water, and soil as sources of raw materials. He suggested that later generations of the machine could be designed to float freely on the ocean's surface as self-replicating factory barges or to be placed in barren desert terrain that was otherwise useless for industrial purposes. He chose the seashore as an initial habitat for such machines because it provided them with easy access to the chemicals in seawater. He also suggested that such machines could be placed in barren desert terrain that was otherwise useless for industrial purposes. The self-replicators would be harvested for their component components, which would then be used by humans in other types of machines that did not replicate themselves.

The physicist Freeman Dyson presented a series of thought experiments about the concept of self-replicating machines at his 1970 Vanuxem Lecture. These experiments were the next important step in the development of this idea. the so-called Astrochicken,

A New Directions Workshop that took place in 1979 at Wood's Hole served as the impetus for NASA and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) to conduct a joint summer study in 1980 titled Advanced Automation for Space Missions. The purpose of this study was to produce a detailed proposal for self-replicating factories that could develop lunar resources without the need for additional launches or human workers on-site. The research was carried out at Santa Clara University from the 23rd of June to the 29th of August, and the complete report wasn't released until the year 1982. The suggested system would have had the ability to exponentially increase its producing capacity, and its architecture would have been modifiable to allow the construction of self-replicating probes for use in galactic exploration.

The reference design included automated front-end loaders for strip mining, small computer-controlled electric carts that ran on rails inside the factory, mobile paving machines that focused sunlight on lunar regolith to melt and sinter it into a hard surface suitable for building on, and small computer-controlled electric carts that ran on rails outside the factory. The unprocessed lunar regolith would be refined using a number of methods, the primary one being the leaching of hydrofluoric acid. It was envisaged that large transporters equipped with a wide range of manipulator arms and tools would serve as the constructors that would assemble new factories from the individual components and assemblies that were manufactured by the parent company.

Solar panels arranged in a canopy and held aloft by pillars would provide the necessary electricity. The remaining pieces of equipment would be stored below the cover.

In order to create plaster casts, a casting robot would have sculpting tools and templates at its disposal. Plaster was chosen for the molds because it is simple to create them, it is capable of producing exact pieces with acceptable surface finishes, and it is simple to recycle the plaster afterward by using an oven to bake the water back out of the plaster. After that, the majority of the components would be fabricated by the robot using either nonconductive molten rock (basalt) or pure metals. In addition to that, we also incorporated a carbon dioxide laser cutting and welding equipment.

To generate the computer and electrical systems, a more speculative and complicated microchip fabricator was required. However, the designers also indicated that it may be viable to transport the chips from Earth as if they were vitamins.

This concept was investigated further in a research that was conducted in 2004 and funded by NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts. A number of knowledgeable individuals are starting to look at the possibility of using self-replicating devices for asteroid mining.

A significant portion of the research that went into the construction of the replication focused on developing an easy-to-use and adaptable chemical processing system for the ore, as well as determining the degree to which the ratio of elements that the replicator requires can be found in lunar regolith. Chlorine, which is essential for the production of aluminum from regolith, was the factor that had the greatest impact on the growth rate. In the lunar regolith, chlorine is a very uncommon element.

Klaus Lackner and Christopher Wendt devised a more precise blueprint for such a system in 1995. They were inspired by Dyson's 1970 concept of seeding unoccupied deserts on Earth with self-replicating devices for industrial progress. Dyson made this suggestion in 1970. They gave their devices the name Auxons, which derives from the Greek term auxein, which may be translated as to grow.

In 2002 and 2003, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts initiated a number of research on the design of self-replicating systems. These studies were inspired by a study conducted in 1980 titled Advanced Automation for Space Missions. There were four recipients of phase I awards:

Autonomous Self-Extending Machines for Accelerating Space Exploration, authored by Hod Lipson of Cornell University

Architecture for Unmanned Self-Replicating Lunar Factories, by Gregory Chirikjian of