# Summary of #hplusroadmap IRC Log (Oct 7, 2010)

• DARPA's META program and VehicleForge.mil project were discussed extensively, with kanzure reporting that DARPA is primarily seeking "META-project-hosting" with potential funding up to $9M, noting that Paul Eremenko (DARPA) explicitly stated smaller players might be favored over traditional defense contractors.

• A robot controlled by a rat brain was shared (http://singularityhub.com/2010/10/06/videos-of-robot-controlled-by-rat-brain-amazing-technology-still-moving-forward/), prompting discussion about brain-machine interfaces and remote control of biological systems.

• A new "Gene Designer" application was mentioned (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/10/prweb4622214.htm), which appears to be a tool for genetic engineering work.

• The Open Hardware Summit's definition mailing list was shared (http://lists.openhardwaresummit.org/listinfo.cgi/definition-openhardwaresummit.org), indicating ongoing work to standardize open hardware definitions.

• Military Open Source Software (mil-oss.org) was highlighted as a resource for open source initiatives within military contexts.

• Visualization tools for neuroscience data were discussed, specifically the Brede tools for visualizing data mining results in neuroinformatics (http://www.frontiersin.org/neuroinformatics/10.3389/neuro.11.026.2009/full).

• There was a brief discussion about functional programming languages, with differing opinions on their practical utility and productivity impact.