- A crab-like autonomous robot designed to harvest algae with a roller mechanism was proposed as a low-cost, scalable route to decentralized biofuel production.  
- Participants reverse-engineered Z-Corp 3-D printers, showing that commodity inkjet cartridges, food-grade dyes, plaster/maltodextrin powder, and water-based binders can replicate commercial prints at a fraction of the listed price, and shared patents plus DIY inkjet-to-3-D conversion guides.  
- A “pocket mill” project—a 6-axis piezo-actuated micro-milling machine small enough for a dorm room—was advanced as part of a broader vision of MIT-style micro-factories and 30 mm³ mill/lathe systems for desktop precision manufacturing.  
- Electrochemical machining (ECM) was suggested as a RepRap-compatible metal-working head: a salt-water electrolyte jet from an insulated syringe tip anodically dissolves metal, offering a simpler alternative to EDM for open-source CNC.  
- Neural interface concepts included flexible metal-coated fibers woven into 3-D electrode matrices to reduce insertion trauma, and a fabrication protocol where neurotrophin-coated PCB circuits on silicon wafers guide neurons to grow onto precisely placed recording/stimulation sites.  
- Wireless power strategies for brain implants were debated—inductive RFID-style coils versus blood-fuel cells—to eliminate internal batteries while still supporting high-density micro-electrode arrays for stimulation and recording.  
- The feasibility of expanding human motor homunculi via internet-controlled robotic limbs was discussed; neural plasticity is deemed adequate, but the physical attachment interface remains the primary bottleneck.  
- DIYbio tensions surfaced over “platformitis”: community frustration that thought-leaders propose elaborate web portals for open biology when existing Drupal modules already suffice, urging a “shut up and code” ethos.  
- Construction notes for a directional ultrasonic “sound laser” (SASER) were shared, using surplus fog-machine piezo disks, conical horns, and phased-array techniques akin to crowd-control devices.  
- Automated scraping tools (followlinks.pl, HTML::TreeBuilder) for liberating paywalled journal articles were mentioned, alongside reverse-engineering efforts against Make Magazine’s browser-only digital edition to preserve open access to knowledge.