RepRap (a contraction of replicating rapid prototyper) is a project to develop low-cost 3D printers that can print most of their own components. As open designs, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License.[1]
Due to the ability of these machines to make some of their own parts, authors envisioned the possibility of cheap RepRap units, enabling the manufacture of complex products without the need for extensive industrial infrastructure.[2][3][4] They intended for the RepRap to demonstrate evolution in this process as well as for it to increase in number exponentially.[5][6] A preliminary study claimed that using RepRaps to print common products results in economic savings.[7]
The RepRap project started in England in 2005 as a University of Bath initiative, but it is now made up of hundreds of collaborators worldwide.[5]
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