RepRap: Blog

Hello RepRappers!

You may be interested in the FPath project which is intended to explore the possibilities of the Feynman Path to Nanotechnology. In 1959 the rather well known physicist Richard Feynman gave a talk entitled There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom during which he pretty much invented the idea of nanotechnology and suggested a method of achieving that result. Feynman’s fundamental idea was to use big tools to make small tools which then make even smaller tools and so on until one is able to perform atomically precise fabrication. 

Of course the FPath project is nowhere near the nano scale yet or even at the micron scale that Vik is operating in. FPath is still at the scale of centimeters and working towards building actuators and tools at the millimeter scale. 

There are many issues with the top down approach of the Feynman path. However, there are also problems with the bottom up approach – billions have been spent and we still don’t really have all that much in the way of viable nanotechnology. Maybe the Feynman path is worth a try – after all, it has been given very little attention since the day it was proposed.

Empowering people to create tools would seem to fit right in with the RepRap philosophy and everything is open source.

https://www.OfItselfSo.com/FPath/

# posted by OfItselfSo @ 1:13 PM