Basic Concept
A self-replicating machine would need to have the capacity to gather energy and raw materials, process the raw materials into finished components, and then assemble them into a copy of itself. Further, for a complete self-replication, it must, from scratch, produce its smallest parts, such as bearings, connectors and delicate and intricate electronic components. It is unlikely that this would all be contained within a single structure, but would rather be a group of cooperating machines or an automated factory that is capable of manufacturing all of the machines that comprise it.
The factory could produce mining robots to collect raw materials, construction robots to assemble new machines, and repair robots to maintain itself against wear and tear, all without human intervention or direction. The advantage of such a system lies in its ability to expand its own capacity rapidly and without additional human effort. In essence, the initial investment required to construct the first self-replicating device would have an infinitely large payoff with no additional labor cost.
Such a machine violates no physical laws, and the basic technologies necessary for some of the more detailed proposals and designs already exist.
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