The RepRap project is an initiative to develop a 3D printer (RepRap, short for "replicating rapid prototyper") that can print most of its own components. As an open design, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License.
RepRap uses a variant of fused deposition modeling, an additive manufacturing technique.
To date, the RepRap project has released two 3D printing machines: "Darwin", released in March 2007, and "Mendel", released in October 2009. Developers have named each after famous biologists, as "the point of RepRap is replication and evolution".
Due to the self-replicating ability of the machine, authors envision the possibility to cheaply distribute RepRap units to people and communities, enabling them to create (or download from the internet) complex products without the need for expensive industrial infrastructure. They intend for the RepRap to demonstrate evolution in this process as well as for it to increase in number exponentially.
