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Julian, this sounds very interesting. Personally, I'm interested in seeing how design "creativity" is stimulated by the presentation of objects/information. Presentation via RepRap is an avenue I'd not yet considered. I'd like to be kept in the loop on this, if possible. /fas On 5 August 2012 11:53, Julian Vincent <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Got the BiomimJBug again . . . perhaps it's a run-up for a blog I'll be > doing for Swedish Biomimetics when they get their new web site going. > Anyway . . . > > Over the last 6 weeks or so I've been building myself a RepRap, > masterminded by another denizen of this mailbase - Adrian Bowyer. I won't > bother you with the web address - just dial in RepRap and you'll find loads > of information. RepRap is the (accredited) abbreviation of Reproducing > Rapid Prototyping Machine. Well, not much inherent reproduction potential, > though it can make a good number of its own parts. I've been following the > development of this concept and marvelling as it went viral. Read about it > on Wikipedia and elsewhere. > I've made one (and Adrian helped me sort out the software - I'm running it > from a Mac and there's not quite so much support for it as for a standard > PC running MicroSoft. Though Linux et al. are well catered for) and have > made a few simple gew-gaws. Or rather the machine made them - I just > looked on in wonder. My main interest is to make biological simulacra. > Perhaps bits of skeletons (I want to start off with a layer of > cuttlebone). There's a real reason (I like to convince myself!) in that it > allows me to make objects which might find their way into other > technologies. The cuttlebone is for use in an architectural project I'm > currently consulting for. And I'd like to see if I can make a Sirex > ovipositor and see how it really works. Because obviously I can make the > shape, but 10 times or 100 times bigger than the real thing and play with > it under much more controlled conditions. > > I won't say any more about it at the moment - read it on the web pages. > But perhaps we could get a project going with it - after all (as you'll > see) one of the main ideas about RepRap is that the instructions for making > it, and anything with it, are available on the internet. It's entirely > computer-based and driven. And for free. So we could have a world-wide > project in biomimetics which doesn't need a grant from anyone (especially > useful in the UK . . .) > > Cheers > Julian > -- \V/_ Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng. Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Ryerson University 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749 Fax: 416/979-5265 Email: [log in to unmask] http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/