- SKDB, the open-source “Standardized Knowledge Database” for hardware, is being extended to model LEGO assemblies: a HeeksCAD-based script (heeks_coords.py) exports CAD models with coordinate-system “interface markers” into YAML so SKDB can reason about studs, tubes, axles and connection forces, with the community debating whether LEGO’s freely-licensed 3 000-part LDraw library justifies using it as a first test-case before moving to open construction sets like MakerBeam or GIK.

- A proposed automated-design challenge asks for an algorithm that, given a graph, outputs a powered LEGO cart that rolls in a straight line, prompting discussion of LEGO assembly grammars, interference-force estimation (FEM vs. simple 1 lbf/stud heuristics), and the sequencing problem that some structures may be impossible to assemble in one pass.

- A new SKDB architecture was outlined in which every Part instance carries both an assembly graph and a private build-tree history, enabling asynchronous multi-agent builds with explicit state-merging “hand-offs” (e.g., one agent slices apples while another prepares crust).

- Participants spent much of the session troubleshooting the open-source CAD/CAM stack, compiling PythonOCC 0.3 against OpenCASCADE 6.2/6.3, fixing missing libraries (libTKDCAF.so, libTKDraw.so, libTKTopTest.so) with symbolic links, and resolving version mismatches between Python 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6.

- Genehacker sketched a 15–40 m ram accelerator as a boat-based launch system for orbit, estimating accelerations far above 60 g, while fenn emphasized that altitude alone is meaningless without achieving true orbital velocity (~Mach 25), and Cambridge University Spaceflight’s meteor balloon and rocketry project (cuspaceflight) was cited as a student-level high-altitude reference.

- A robotics vendor is withholding serial protocol documentation for a robot arm, prompting plans to recruit nenolod (who reverse-engineered an Audigy driver) and trade precision multimeters for reverse-engineering help.

- IKVM, a tool that lets Java code call .NET libraries (and vice-versa) on the CLR, was discovered, raising the possibility of using JPype with IKVM’s JVM for mixed-language SKDB tooling.

- OCR frustrations were shared over “fi” ligatures breaking most OCR, and the idea of running a private reCAPTCHA-like service to crowd-source correction of scanned technical libraries was floated.

- Eric Raymond gave a guarded reply on electric-aircraft battery data: no technical details until a solid business plan exists, though he confirmed >3-year cycle life and noted that the Stemme motorglider must be built light from the outset.

- A lab accident at UT Austin’s RLM building (rumored chemistry explosion) drew eight fire trucks, EMS, and police, with a graduate student wheeled out with head bandages and the incident already trending on Twitter.