It seems the next level up on the craze of build it yourself devices would be a RP, the king of design. I hear theres some plans going around for a DIY RP machine for a couple of thousand dollars. Can we, should we set this as the next goal of LL?

That would be a good and doable goal. It would require a 5 axis CNC robot with a rotating set of tools and way to process the object being machined (active 3D aser scanning I think would work). The most difficult part would probably be writing the software.

Can you explain an example of rapid prototyping? I'm working on 3D laser scanning and Brainchild is trying out some 3D printing stuff. Would this fall under what you're proposing?

ETA: OK, I just wiki'ed and yup, that would be construed as rapid prototyping.