Rise of the replicators

Found on New Scientist on Tuesday, 01 June 2010
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Over the next few minutes, this "MakerBot" will do something I can only dream of doing: it will create a spare part of itself as an insurance against future mishaps.

MakerBot is one of a range of desktop manufacturing plants being developed by researchers and hobbyists around the world. Their goal is to create a machine that is able to fix itself and, ultimately, to replicate.

Sure this would make a nice toy to play with.