# Summary of #hplusroadmap IRC Log (May 14, 2011)

• A user inquired about using Amazon's supercomputers for modeling thousands of iterations of particular reactions, suggesting interest in cloud computing for scientific simulations.

• Makerbot Industries was noted to have grown significantly, with 32 employees (up from 5) and having sold 4,500 3D printer kits, indicating rapid growth in the consumer 3D printing market.

• Discussion of evolutionary computation and evolvable hardware in relation to RepRap technology, with references to the Golem Project (http://www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu/golem/) which demonstrates evolutionary approaches to robotics.

• Controversy was mentioned regarding a baseball player using stem cell therapy for recovery, highlighting tensions around emerging biotechnologies in mainstream contexts.

• Amateur rocketry achievements were debated, particularly regarding claims of rockets reaching 100km altitude, with discussion of Copenhagen Suborbitals' upcoming launch and challenges in DIY space efforts.

• Technical discussion about STEP (ISO 10303) standards for product data representation, focusing on Application Protocols (APs) and the EXPRESS modeling language used for defining these standards.

• References to Plover (http://plover.stenoknight.com/), a stenography system that could potentially enable typing speeds over 250 words per minute, as part of a discussion on human-computer interface optimization.