# Key Points from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussion

• Open-source hardware designs like the Dremelfuge (DIY centrifuge) are gaining traction in biohacking communities, with participants discussing business models where companies can profit by selling kits while sharing designs freely.

• A proposed integration between SKDB (parts database) and Octopart would revolutionize DIY projects by automatically generating bills of materials, finding the cheapest components, and placing orders based on selected projects.

• Architectural-scale 3D printing is advancing with technologies like RockPrinter and D-Shape, which can print large cement/plaster structures up to gazebo size at 25 DPI, demonstrating the expanding scale of additive manufacturing.

• Participants discussed "seacrete" (Biorock) technology that creates marine structures through electrolysis at approximately $1/kg (versus $0.05/kg for traditional concrete), precipitating minerals from seawater onto conductive mesh.

• A comprehensive DIY fabrication setup was estimated to cost between $2,000-$20,000, with participants planning purchases of RepRap 3D printers, Compressed Earth Brick presses, and multimachines combining router, mill, and lathe functionality.

• One participant shared work on an ecological simulation using cellular automata with virtual creatures controlled by neural networks (~2,000 neurons per entity), including features like a "psychic grid" for inter-entity communication and virtual "drugs" to influence behavior.

• Current EEG brain-computer interface research was noted to have significant limitations, with no papers demonstrating communication rates better than 15 words per minute, highlighting technological constraints in direct neural interfaces.