# Key Technical Discussions from #hplusroadmap

• Developers working on SKDB (an open-source hardware database) documented progress on thread specifications, adding UNC and UNF thread series definitions to the codebase, demonstrating ongoing work to formalize hardware standards.

• The group explored collision detection algorithms for 3D CAD models, comparing O(n²) approaches with more efficient O(n log n) methods, and discussing volume-based detection where interference would cause the assembly volume to differ from the sum of individual part volumes.

• Participants referenced IBM's AUTOPASS system from 1977 as an early example of automated assembly planning with collision detection using swept volumes, highlighting the historical context of current challenges.

• The conversation addressed the fundamental difficulty in assembly planning algorithms, noting that "assembly is dependent on a great deal of expert knowledge which has proven very difficult to formalize."

• Technical implementation details of the SKDB system were shared, including interface mating code where each interface has a "control point" and vector to define how parts connect together.

• The group discussed file format interoperability challenges, particularly converting between formats like POV-Ray, STL, STEP, and IGES, with a specific example of 700 Lego parts trapped in an unusable POV-Ray format.

• Open-source hardware projects MakerBeam and Contraptor were shared, demonstrating the community's interest in accessible manufacturing tools.

• Developers explored web scraping techniques using XPath and uzbl to create more maintainable scrapers that can adapt to changing website layouts.