Dear Lynxmotion Community... what can we do for you?

Lynxmotion
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As you already know, RobotShop has purchased Lynxmotion and I will be leading the Lynxmotion brand here at RobotShop. You all know each other quite well, but likely know little about me, so here’s some information about myself, the team, and also what’s planned.

How I got started
I’m a (McGill) Mechanical Engineering graduate and just as Jim and Mario found, when I was in school there were not a lot of places to buy robotic parts or people to turn to for help for anyone looking to get started in the field of robotics. My first “real” robotic project was back in 2003 when I put together an inter-university team to design and build a large quadruped robot as part of our CAPSTONE project course. I’ve built various kinds of robots since then, with the most recent project being the DFRobotShop Rover and the M100RAK.

The RobotShop Team
It would be quite impossible to take over Lynxmotion’s operations myself, and Jim’s work alone was the equivalent of several positions. Fortunately other staff here at RobotShop will be taking over sales, shipping, kitting, exchanges and more. The staff here are very skilled at what they do and our focus is to provide the best service possible. Another person who will be playing a large role in the forum will be Carlos Asmat, a fellow McGill graduate in Electrical Engineering with a passion for automation, taking things apart, and robotics. I have Mario’s full support to help Lynxmotion be all that it can be and more.

Help Decide The Future
Here at RobotShop, we do our best to listen closely to the needs and wants of the user community. The forum is an excellent way to share ideas, wants and needs and we encourage you to reply to this post with products, kits or project ideas which you think we should come out with. We’re also open to the idea of helping you commercialize your projects via the RobotShop Accelerator program. Now as for things that area already in the works, we’re not going into too many details yes, but we plan to really add to the versatility of the servo erector set, reward the community’s contributions and much, much more.

I’m really looking forward to getting to know you all and hearing your ideas.

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Hi Coleman,
Welcome. Its a pleasure to meet you and the new team.

Introductions i guess…

My name is Jonny. A regular to the forum.
Like you i my first real robotics project was also in 2003, but i have a long interest in robotics that has grown since my early days, and lynxmotion has been the main kick starter for those projects, and has allowed me to apply my ideas.

I look forward to seeing your future plans.

Jonny.

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It would be great if the Lynxmotion forums were as maintained as they were before. When it was Jim, James, Beth, and I looking over the forum everyday we made sure that every question was responded to if not already answered by the time we noticed it. The forum was supposed to be a comfortable place where anyone could ask a question and get a relatively quick response(within a day or two at the most). Now that RobotShop has taken over, this place just isn’t the same and that really is disappointing… Without a reliable public forum that is well staffed how can you expect people to feel comfortable buying your products when they can’t be sure if help will be available or not when they need it…

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I agree that this forum need to be keep and entertained.
A forum without any activity is not something fun to look and people will go elsewhere.

I try my best to bring idea… LOL

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Hi Coleman,

In a concern related to those above about the forum, I have concerns about the store. Primarily, is it still possible to place orders through the Lynxmotion store pages? And is Robot Shop continuing with the whole Lynxmotion product line, or are they cutting it back?

Basis for my concern: I was recently trying to point someone else at various Lynxmotion items, so I visited the Robot Shop site to try it out. I must admit I was quite disappointed. Perhaps it was a case of the devil I know versus the devil I don’t, but I found it very difficult trying to navigate through Robot Shop to find specific items. Lynxmotion products were jumbled in with other manufacturers’ items in no apparent logical order, and it seemed impossible to progress from one item to a like or related item in any sort of reasonable progression. I couldn’t even tell if all items were still marketed. Optional versions of certain complete robots were listed remotely from each other making it very hard to compare features. They also seemed weighted in favor of the most expensive version first with no indication that a cheaper version was available. Please remember many Lynxmotion customers and members on this forum are students on tight budgets.

I know any major transition such as this is bound to involve a certain amount of confusion and a learning curve, especially this early in the process and while Robot Shop has other fish to fry also. But for the time, we old guys who are stuck in our ways may prefer the familiar method we used to use.

Thanks for listening,

Ted

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Welcome Coleman,

I’m pleased to see that robot shop took over Lynxmotions operations. I would rather see another party keep it going vs. watch it just shut down and disappear. I feel as though I have lost a longtime friend because I have been with Lynxmotion for a long time and to see Jim and the gang slip away so sudden was a shock that still lingers on to this day. I will also miss watching the R&D of new products that was always fun to see.

The SES brackets everyone seems to have used whether TV or personal projects. Glad to see they are still available. I have always wondered why Jim named them SES (Servo Erector Set) when they never really were sold as a set, kits yes, but never a set. SBS (Servo Bracket System) seemed more like it. :slight_smile: Anyway, Jim had great talent and he made a lot of things possible for both the rooky as well as extremely advanced builders.

I wish you the very best of success.

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Hello all,

It’s great to get some feedback. I’ll try to go over the points each of you raised:

We will certainly be more active.

Not sure what you mean by “entertained” - I’ll do my best to balance a ball on my head :slight_smile: We certainly want new and existing members of the community to feel free to brainstorm on projects, show off their creations, ask questions etc. One of the reasons it’s gotten this good is the participation of the community and its “welcoming attitude”.

Yes, of course! the Lynxmotion site is still active - aside from offering additional shipping options, nothing has changed in that regard.

The Lynxmotion product line is doing very well. We’re continuing what Jim started and are slowly discontinuing the brushed metal brackets. The goal of the takeover was to build upon what was created. We’ll be discontinuing products the same way Lynxmotion did - if something is replaced with a better version or simply has not sold well for a long time.

This will be getting better - we’re planning to overhaul the back-end of the RobotShop website (now that things have settled down, we’ll be focusing on this again).

The RobotShop (distributor) website is setup differently than Lynxmotion (manufacturer). This is one of the main reasons why we are keeping the Lynxmotion site alive. The new platform we are going with will help correct a lot of these issues. If you are more comfortable with browsing the Lynxmotion website, we encourage you to do so. Take a look at the RobotShop website if you want to see what other manufacturers are offering, products that may not fall under Lynxmotion, or if you want to order other items at the same time.

For the moment, the site is setup as categories containing categories and categories containing products. If you are looking for hobbyist robotic arms, you’ll get all hobby robotic arms from all suppliers affiliated with RobotShop. In the redesign, similar products from the same manufacturer will be grouped (like the AL5 series arms for example).

We’re very open in this regard to your suggestions on how to create the ideal website - feel free to indicate them here.

There are a few ways to display products in a category (by price, product code, our picks etc). When you use “our picks” we try to put the most complete and versatile products at the top, put similar products together etc.

Definitely keep this in mind.

They’re all still alive and well. Hopefully you read Jim’s post about the rationale behind selling the company - I guess the surprise was that they kept up their pace and participation until the very end. They are always still welcome and encouraged to participate in the forum and I’m sure they are all keeping an eye on what’s happening.

Interesting question indeed. You touched on one of the new “kits” we plan to come out with - many people had asked the same question; “how much is the servo erector set?” thinking it was similar to a LEGO Mindstorms set. We’ve listened to all these people and you’ll see what we have planned soon :slight_smile:

We certainly don’t want the mood to shift and welcome all of your feedback.

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Thanks, Coleman, you addressed my concerns quite well. As I suggested, much of it is just getting used to different methods. Nice to know the old store still works.

Ted