Self replication

For the definition of self replication there is already a lot of literature to consult: Wikipedia: [1]; The "Bunny Book": [2]; In general: [3]

[Todo: add concise explanation - necessity and perception]

Putting together an macroscopic object (some 10^24 atoms) atom almost atom by atom would take eons if done with only one robotic device.

It was believed that self replication was a necessity impossible to circumvent uncircumventablel necessity for the attainment of AP technology.

basestructure size classification

block based self replication

standard blocks

exponential assembly

Exponential assembly is a method of structural copying with exponential speedup.

It has the following defining traits:

• The un-assembled robotic units must be massively parallel pre-produced without self replication. (photo lithograpy/self assembly)
• The robotic units must be complex enough to fulfill their task
• All robotic units must share a part of the movement mechanism and their hole control system.

Such systems could be used to assemble smaller systems of the same exponential assembly design but possibly (and probably) of very different structure. Maybe: top level: MEMS system; bottom level: structural DNA nanotechnology.

This method is claimed to not be true self replication since the units on their own lack functional completeness and the posible range of structural replication is thus limited to the size of the topmost assembly level.

Note: Do not mix this up with convergent assembly. Convergent assembly in contrast:

• works the other way around (bottom-up)
• is used for product production not technology attainment
• has potentially more layers in the mesoscale that only differ in size.

Videos: [4]; Paper: [5]