[Hplusroadmap] von Neumann Universal Constructor Prize

[Bryan Bishop]

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~douglasr/prize/
douglas.reay at gmail.com
(by way of David Dalrymple)

See also:
http://heybryan.org/projects/atoms/

The von Neumann Universal Constructor Prize
I'm looking for experts to sit on a prize comittee. 

And then I'm looking for some person, group or institution to fund the 
prize. 

What prize? 

Let me start at the beginning, with a brief review of current 
technology. 

Self Assembly
Robots used for assembly are a standard part of industry. Assembling the 
robots themselves, though, is a tricky task that has always required a 
measure of human intervention. Simpler robots, though, can be designed 
with automated assembly in mind, made up of small pieces that snap 
together, such as Lego Mindstorms. 

Hod Lipson of Cornell University demonstrated practical self-assembly 
using towers of cubes attached to each other by magnets. Matt Moses at 
the University of New Mexico has taken this further, using Lego-like 
bricks to make a three-axis manipulator that can assemble a duplicate 
of itself, given the components. (As described in his thesis: A 
Physical Prototype of a Self-Replicating Universal Constructor) 

Teams have competed to achieve a similar task with commercially 
available Lego. 

Self Replication
The Replicating Rapid Prototyper Project has reached its first milestone 
of a machine able to manufacture most of the components needed to build 
a working copy of itself. Full self replication is the eventual aim, 
but partial self replication is also valuable, as it reduces the cost 
of such machines. Under the 90 % rule, the aim is to get the price of 
the purchased components below 10 % of the cost of a full commercial 
machine. Similarly, it is desirable to self manafacture at least 90 % 
of the parts, that make up 90 % of the mass and volume of the machine. 
As applied to assembly, the 90 % rule would dictate as a first stage 
that you would aim to cut down the amount of human intervention 
required by a factor of 10. 

Universal Constructor
A von Neumann Universal Constructor both replicates the parts of the 
machine and assembles them into a working duplicate. No one has yet 
made a physical example of one that starts from raw materials, although 
there have been outline designs for a Self-Replicating Robotic Lunar 
Factory since 1980. 

However one can envisage how such a system would be possible, if the 
work on self assembly and self replication could be brought together. 
And, as it happens, they are not too far apart. Lego pieces have been 
fabricated using rapid prototyping machines. And rapid prototyping 
machines have been constructed from Lego. Indeed people working on 
RepRap itself have made good use of Lego while bootstrapping to their 
current design. 

The Prize
So what needs to be done to bring these two things together? 

Show that 90 % of a self assembling robotic system can be fabricated 
using a rapid prototyping system that can also self replicate
Show that 90 % of the assembly from parts of a rapid prototyping system 
can be done by a robotic system that can also self assemble.

To this end, I propose that a prize be set up, to engage the imagination 
and spur progress. Said prize should be awarded in stages as well 
defined milestones on the path to this aim are reached, with a panel of 
experts judging when a submision has met the criteria. (Possibly on the 
model of the Ansari X Prize.) 

I shall be soliciting feedback on this idea before making a more general 
publication of it. However, if you have come across this website and 
have ideas on prize criteria, feasibility of the aims, selection 
process for the panel or suggestions on funding, please contact me.

- Bryan
________________________________________
Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/