Replicator equation, a deterministic monotone non-linear and non-innovative game dynamic used in evolutionary game theory In many programming languages an empty program is legal, and executes without producing errors or other output. The output is thus the same as the source code, so the program is trivially self-reproducing. Food slot and food service redirects here; for the similar technology prevalent in the 23rd century on Starfleet starships, please see food synthesizer.

Romulan replicators left distinctive patterns in the molecular structure of items they produced. ( TNG: " The Mind's Eye")Replicators aboard Starfleet vessels would not produce fatal poisons. ( VOY: " Death Wish") Furthermore, replicators had biofilters which automatically screened out all contaminants. ( DS9: " Babel") Although clothing could be replicated for general wear, they would not allow non-Starfleet crewmembers to replicate official Starfleet uniforms. ( VOY: " Caretaker") They produced synthehol versions of alcoholic drinks by default, but they could easily be manually readjusted through their control panel to make real alcohol instead. ( TNG: " Up The Long Ladder") Clanking replicators are also mentioned briefly in the fourth chapter of K. Eric Drexler's 1986 book Engines of Creation. Clanking replicator, an artificial self-replicating system that relies on conventional large-scale technology and automation Freitas, Robert A. Jr. (July 1980). "A Self-Reproducing Interstellar Probe". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. 33: 251–264. Bibcode: 1980JBIS...33..251F . Retrieved 2008-10-01. The writers guide for the series Star Trek explained that food was prepared in high-speed equipment and moved to a food slot via a small turbolift, and this was also shown, with no detail, in blueprints of the ship prepared by Franz Joseph in 1974.

In Star Trek a replicator is a machine that can create (and recycle) things. Replicators were originally seen to simply synthesize meals on demand, but in later series much larger non-food items appear. The technical aspects of replicated versus "real" things is sometimes a plot element. Learn how companies are using Omniverse Replicator to generate 3D synthetic data to detect defects in industrial digitalization. In 2004, General Dynamics completed a study for NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts. It concluded that complexity of the development was equal to that of a Pentium 4, and promoted a design based on cellular automata.

Self-Replicating Automated Industrial Factory (1973-present)". Molecularassembler.com. 2005-08-01 . Retrieved 2009-09-16. Leveraging commercial technology will be important to advance this initiative to produce at scale and use the latest technologies.