---
abstract: |-
It has been argued that a central objective of nanotechnology is to make
products inexpensively, and that self-replication is an effective approach
to very low-cost manufacturing. The research presented here is intended to
be a step towards this vision. We describe a computational simulation of
nanoscale machines floating in a virtual liquid. The machines can bond
together to form strands (chains) that self-replicate and self-assemble
into user-specified meshes. There are four types of machines and the
sequence of machine types in a strand determines the shape of the mesh
they will build. A strand may be in an unfolded state, in which the bonds
are straight, or in a folded state, in which the bond angles depend on the
types of machines. By choosing the sequence of machine types in a strand,
the user can specify a variety of polygonal shapes. A simulation typically
begins with an initial unfolded seed strand in a soup of unbonded machines.
The seed strand replicates by bonding with free machines in the soup. The
child strands fold into the encoded polygonal shape, and then the polygons
drift together and bond to form a mesh. We demonstrate that a variety of
polygonal meshes can be manufactured in the simulation, by simply changing
the sequence of machine types in the seed.
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creators_id:
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- 2175
creators_name:
- family: Ewaschuk
given: Robert
honourific: ''
lineage: ''
- family: Turney
given: Peter D.
honourific: ''
lineage: ''
date: 2006-07
date_type: published
datestamp: 2006-08-01
department: ~
dir: disk0/00/00/50/38
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eprint_status: archive
eprintid: 5038
fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/5038/1/NRC%2D48760.pdf
full_text_status: public
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item_issues_comment: []
item_issues_count: 0
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keywords: |-
self-replication, self-assembly, nanotechnology, virtual physics, continuous
space automata, manufacturing, polygonal meshes
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:33
latitude: ~
longitude: ~
metadata_visibility: show
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number: 3
pagerange: 411-433
pubdom: FALSE
publication: Artificial Life
publisher: MIT Press
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: |
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relation_type: []
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reportno: ~
rev_number: 12
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source: ~
status_changed: 2007-09-12 17:06:31
subjects:
- comp-sci-mach-dynam-sys
- bio-theory
succeeds: ~
suggestions: ~
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title: Self-Replication and Self-Assembly for Manufacturing
type: journalp
userid: 2175
volume: 12