Architectural considerations for self-replicating manufacturing systems

To achieve the levels of productivity that are one of the desirable prospec ts of a molecular manufacturing technology, the techniques of self-replicat ion in mechanical systems are a major requirement. Although the basic ideas and high-level descriptions were introduced by von Neumann in the 1940s, n o detailed design in a mechanically realistic regime ('the kinematic model' ) has been done. This paper formulates a body of systems analysis to that e nd, and proposes a higher-level architecture somewhat different to those ye t seen, as a result.