Del Rudolph and I are designing the Next generation LMR :)
Now, I can promise you that we can not implement even half of the ideas that our thousands of creative and talented members might have :)
BUT! I would like to ask if there is any fields that you would like added when submitting a new robot project. Or more like; Are there ways to FIND robots that you wuld like? Because if we implement new fields, like "Does it have sound", it should be because you'd like (or think others would like) to look for "robots with sound".
Another disclaimer; I cannot (because of lack of time) respond to any discussions in this tread, but everything wil be read, and if you agree with someone, write it, so we can see that this idea that someone has, is something that many would like :)
Searchable database with fields (processor family; method of motion (wheels, tracks, legs, etc.); power source; sound, etc.)
A simple rating system for projects (similar to Facebook ‘Like’ feature). Could be applied to individual comments to posts. This avoids lots of “me too” comments, but allows users to express their support.
Sort projects by popularity (using the above feature)
Alternative ways to view lists (e.g., see “My Collection” as a text list, Vs current view with pictures). View type is selectable by user. (Like Windows Explorer option to view files as a detailed list, small icons, large icons, etc.)
Since the map view feature is so slow as to be essentially unusable, move to a searchable text field type database (similar to what is described in the first bullet, but for users). This would allow someone to quickly view/sort users by country/region/whathaveyou.
Sort posts (robot lists, etc) by recent activity, author, original post date, popularity, whether there is video or not…
Sort users similar to the above, except by things like most recent post, date joined, number of robots, number of forum posts, etc.
OK, this last one I’m not even going to include on the list above, because it is probably not feasible. Have you ever seen web sites that show relationship maps? It’s a graphical representation showing connections between related “nodes” of information.
For robots, this would allow creators to draw an association to one or more other robots. So if my creation was inspired by another LMR member, I can link it to that node. If I have just created version 3 of a family of robots, I can link it to the previous generation.
A “don’t update” click-box. If you go in to just fix a spelling mistake, etc, you still get shot up to the top of the list. Leads to a lot of “what did you update?”.
As in how you can put multiple pictures in one line and switch between them by clicking on the thumbnail underneath. I think it would make the page more organized and you could upload more pictures for each step of the construction without making a really long page.
Ability to search on fields such as ’ body style’, ‘sensors’, ‘drive design’ in addition to the processor and code used. These could be additional fields one fills when posting a new robot.
