TAURUS: Towards an Audacious Universal Constructor

通用构造器（UC），最早由冯纽曼在1948年提出，是一种原则上可以构建任何其他机器的机器，包括自己的副本。自从它被首次提出以来，人们已经进行了许多尝试来开发一种可以自我复制的UC原型，同时构建对其设计者有用的东西。到目前为止，所展示的部分原型都不是真正的通用构造器，因为它们在（a）自我复制的能力和（B）作为有用的商品输出的实际制造能力方面都受到严重限制。在这个补助金，我提出了一个创新的路线，以实现冯纽曼的愿景，解决迎面而来的限制（a）和（B）上述。为了做到这一点，我将战略性地整合合成生物学的最新进展，从中我们可以免费获得细胞自我复制-解决限制（a）-和丰富的生物化学细胞为基础的纳米实验室，从中可以制造各种各样的潜在有用的商品。因此，TAURUS为真正的通用构建器的首次实现提供了一条清晰的路线。

A universal constructor (UC) , first proposed by von Newman in 1948, is a machine that can -in principle- build any other machine, including copies of itself. Since it was first proposed, many attempts have been made to develop a prototype of a UC that could self-replicate while simultaneously building something useful toits designers. None of the partial prototypes demonstrated so far are true Universal Constructors because they are severely limited on both (a) their ability to self-replicate and (b) on what they can actually manufacture as useful commodity outputs. In this grant I propose an innovative route to realise von Newman's vision by tackling heads-on limitations (a) & (b) mentioned above. To do this, I will strategically integrate recent advances in Synthetic Biology from which we can obtain for free both cellular self-replication -tackling limitation (a)- and a rich biochemical cell-based nanolaboratory from which one could manufacture a large variety of potentially useful commodities.Thus, TAURUS offers a clear route towards the first implementation of a true universal constructor.