Replicator table

Technology developed by Lantean scientists in the city of Atlantis, used to create the first humanoid Replicators. The table is capable of generating trillions of advanced nanite cells, bonding them together in simple or complex patterns, training the nanites to interact with one another, and providing an interface for the generated Replicator to be programmed.

Like most Ancient technology it depends upon a control crystal to operate. A user can operate the table's control systems through the city's computer systems or a portable interface device.

The Replicator table was engineered more than 10,000 years ago, during the Ancients' war against the Wraith. They created the Replicators to attack the Wraith, but ultimately turned on their own creations and attempted to wipe out what had by then become an entire civilization of Replicators – the Asurans.

The table device was deactivated but kept in the city, where Dr. Rodney McKay and the expedition from Earth discovered it ten millennia later. McKay reactivated the device, using it to engineer a "friendly" Replicator (Fran) to aide in their new war against the Asurans.

KEY EPISODES

Be All My Sins Remember'd - McKay uses the Ancient device to create the Replicator "Fran," in order to enact his plan to destroy the Replicators' homeworld.
Ghost In the Machine - Elizabeth Weir's disembodied consciousness accesses the Atlantis computer system and uses the Replicator table to build new bodies for her and her new Replicator allies.