The Replicator: Maybe You Can Have Everything

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Abstract

Star Trek represents a post-scarcity society in which all material needs are met through the use of the replicator. Raw materials at the atomic level are manipulated in a bottom-up manner to build whatever object is needed, in real time. This may seem like science fiction, but research is bringing manufacture on a molecular scale closer every day. 3D printing has developed to the point that simple objects can be made at home for only a few dollars, but the technologies have moved well beyond 3D printing of plastics or metal. 4D techniques that allow for products that respond to environmental changes are moving into the marketplace, as are printed foods and biological tissues and organs. Beyond these technologies lies true molecular manufacturing wherein nanotools or nanobots produce themselves and manipulate raw materials in order to build products one atom at a time. Already there are wrenches, motors, and light-powered submarines being produced that consist of only a few atoms, but are powerful enough do work on small molecules or individual atoms.

Keywords

Additive Manufacturing International Space Station Selective Laser Sinter Electronic Beam Melting Fuse Deposition Modeling 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.IndianapolisUSA

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