Does the best printer redesign change when imported bar stock counts as an import, not as made?
research/selfrep-stockmass
Scoring the printer redesign by the mass the shop must still import (vitamins plus raw stock) instead of closure: the best design imports 5.85 kg against 6.72 kg for the baseline, while the closure-maximising 12 mm aluminium pick imports 6.79 kg (stylised; yield and prices assumed).
What it found
A stylised, preliminary re-scoring of the 448-design search of selfrep-alusearch: the score is the mass (or cost) the shop must still import per printer copy, vitamins plus raw stock at an assumed 0.8 yield. The import-mass minimiser reaches 5.85 kg against 6.72 kg for the steel-rod baseline, with the light 8 mm hardwood rod; the earlier closure-maximising pick (12 mm aluminium) imports 6.79 kg, no better than baseline. By import cost the 12 mm aluminium rod stays best (147.5 against 173.3). Yield, stock price and penalties are assumed; computed only.
A figure from its own output
Paper, code and results
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Produced with AI assistance (Claude). Results are from the code in this repository and are simulated or stylised unless the abstract says otherwise; nothing here implies affiliation with or endorsement by any lab, researcher or company cited. MIT licensed.