Scientist: Dr Adrian Bowyer, 57, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath

Field: Engineering, living, technology

Challenge: To put a factory on your desktop that can make anything you need or want: a spoon, a pair of shoes, a mobile phone, etc.

Solution: The RepRap project, headed by Dr Bowyer, is trying to build a “replicating rapid-prototyper” — otherwise known as a 3D printer. This is a device that can manufacture things to your own design and specification. Dr Bowyer says that the early prototypes of his device — which builds up products with layers of plastic — has already created objects such as Lego bricks and the clocks that adorn his lab’s walls. Recently, the team has developed the ability to create elastic parts and add solder to a plastic product. The aim is to build complex products that do not need to be glued together separately.

The RepRap team are not alone. A number of commercial projects are also under way to develop the machines. These have been used to create products such as jewellery and aerospace components. Depending on the size and complexity of the object, today’s 3D printers take about an hour to print a small and simple object that you could hold — and up to a day for a larger, more sophisticated part.

The hope is that the machines will become small — and cheap — enough to be used in the home, not just in factories and labs. “We hope they will evolve in the way that the computer evolved, where you need lower and lower technical expertise to use them over time,” Dr Bowyer says.

Downsides: What exercise would you get if you didn’t have to walk round the shops? 3D printers are currently too expensive and large for most households; early prototypes have been launched in the US costing $10,000 (£6,000). The RepRap project, however, is “open source” meaning that free designs can be fed into the machine to build the plastic parts to build another RepRap machine. It’s a 3D printer that will try to create another 3D printer — and these can be built for around $700 (£400).

Timescale: A machine that can print a phone except for the chip in five years. Sophisticated 3D printers will be with us over the next decade. There is, as yet, no chance of Dr Bowyer replicating himself.

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