Robot Informaton Archive

[robert]

Darryl,

That is definately worth considering. I'd like to get some details. Thanks!

email me at gnomenow@yahoo.com

[robothut]

THe trick to the Robot warehouse site working will be how a person searches for the robot information. There is no one way to do this, the thumb nail picture idea is a good one but some day if the site reaches the size of Joes collection or my collection "2780 bots" then the thumb nail picture idea would take for ever, unless the thumb nail pictures were sub divided say into plastic or tin or skirted or legs or wind up or battery or friction or remote control, programable and so on.

There needs to be a information check box area where a guy that does not know the name of a robot or the robot has several names can enter all the info they do know and get sent to the robot or a group of thumbnail pictures of robot that might be the one that is being searched for.

Great project and long over do for the hobbie.

[spacewalkman]

Gotta chip in here and say, well, OK PDFs are nice and accessible but I'm not sure it is the best way to build a database (if people are going to be able to contribute/update info) which I think is what we want. I tend to think it best to keep things linked to Alphadrome (cos it rocks) and if the workload is seeming too high to keep it happening then I put my hand up (way up). Anyhow If I, spacewalkman (journalist), or spacewalkwoman (graphic designer) can offer up our services to make it happen we are there and ready! (by the way duxastrogirl, spacewalkwoman says hi) :)

[duxastrogirl]

Another girl on the board (or close to it)!!! ;) Say hi from my part Spacewalkman.

Robert I think the idea is just great. Though much of the information is already on this board...is all around the place and sometimes hard to find.

The photo references of the different versions is also a wonderful idea. I don't know if anybody suggested this but we could also add tips on how to differentiate the repops from the real and compare with photos.

Robert, Just let us know how can we help...

[steve]

I'm sure I still have the "introductory" info(robot, manufacturer, era, brief description) I wrote up for both the Chicago and Brooklyn museums. This could serve as a basis for the introduction of each robot before one drills down into more specific details.

I would think the info would have to be reviewable by a site administrator for accuracy prior to being posted for the public. You wouldn't want the board to be a source of inaccuracies.

[Robot Fool]

I have always preferred searches that use

Thumbnail pictures.

Archiving the two components of a ROBOT toy are essential.

The 2 components being the

Robot and his box art.

Though they are married to each other,

like some married couples the Robot and the Box

are uniquely their own, as Individuals !

A Warehouse Data Bank allowing this double avenue search

option should be considered, to allow for searches that originate

from either a Robot or it's correlating box. Many example exists

where the two seem unrelated, yet are married to each other.

Many future searches will be served best

if this double avenue thumbnail search is possible.

On this note, three letter name searches would also

make future searches user friendly.

Many 3 letter named " specimens " should not be

discriminated against for their lack of letters.

Robots with 3 letter names using only the alphabet

or a combination of alphabet and numbers should be a consideration .

(e.g.. Pug, X70 ) Many title searches consider three letter searches invalid,

yet it's a relevant and relative to the robot.

Robot Fool

Nice work everyone.

RobotNut, I noticed the web hosting for RobotHut before.

I'm currently hosting

John Rigg's Robothut and my Robotnut site at no charge.

The only condition my company puts on the free space

is that no goods or services are sold on my site.

Questions for RobotNut:

1) Does the Alphadromes Robot Store Link in assosiation w/ Amazon

dissallows your free service ?

2) Would the talk forums discussion by

it's dealer members, and them announcing their "dealer's new arrivals"

also disallow your free hosting service ?

3) Would posting EBAY LINKS IN THE TALK FORUM

not meet the free Hosting guiderules if

you set up the Robot warehouse data base

here on Alphadrome?

When all this becomes a reality will the Warehouse be stored on Discs ? So all hard work is never lost.

[robert]

I want to thank everyone who contributed suggestions and ideas for the archive. Thanks also to all who have actually volunteered some time to help out as needed. Here is a quick recap of the ideas presented:

Access: Compiled information on a website in a user-friendly downloadable format. Backed up on CD to prevent loss of information.

Search: Variety of linked search formats; Alphabetical, by name, by photo, by box, by type, i.e., b/o, windup, etc. Preferably a thumbnail gallery as well.

Information: Name, rank, serial #, history (timeline), maker, box, recent repros, comparisons, tips and tricks for repairs, links to additional sites, i.e., see Robothut, page 23.

Open Site anyone is able to contribute information and images, such info to be reviewed and evaluated by a panel of experts and removed or modified if inaccurate. (this is still a little fuzzy- may not be the best way to go)

Directly linked to Alphadrome for ease of access (need to discuss that with Brian)

Did I miss anything? Anything new??

This project will be under way in a few weeks so any additional feedback would be appreciated.

[Joe K.]

Logos and "nicknames"!

[robert]

duly noted and added.

[robobob]

Robert,

I am by no means a computer (or a robot) GooRoo, and haven't

come up with anything spellbinding to add that hasn't already

been brought up by my fellow multi-talented Alphadrome members...

So if there IS anything I can assist with at a grunt work level,

I am more than willing to offer my time.... :)

Go Alphadrome !!!

[robert]

Thanks robobob!

when we invade your meager planet, your name will be on the list of those who are spared.

[(id)]

Just a few quick thoughts... I was thinking about the best way to catalogue the robots for searching, indexing etc. and a few things occurred to me.

If we call the robots simply by their name (and arrange alphabetically) there is going to be a lot of robots simply called "robot" - too many in my opinion to make this the best system for ordering them. Do we order them under the maker and then by name? On the surface this would seem logical (as it is on alphadrome currently), but as the website grows, unless there is some kind of intuitive databasing sofware behind the site, it could get quite time consuming down the track to update, change and rearrange. I might be dramatising slightly, but what do people think about an arbitrary numbering system?

Say Robert the Robot was the first robot we decided to do (which would make sense in a way because he is well known and popular (and Joe, for example, knows a lot about the different versions/boxes etc). Anyway, if we did him first he might be:

1. Robert the Robot (or 001 Robert the robot)

and the generically named robots would be the likes of '29. Robot' or '45. Robot' - distinguised by their nickmanes also. You could still find "Robert the Robot" if you did a search on the site, but it be a shorthand for us when referencing an obscure robot in discussion. Of course this kind of system has been used before to reference particular books, but seeing our website would (eventually) become the most comprehensive resource for robot information, it makes sense to me to employ a system such as this.

Variations could be numbered ie 1.1 Robert the Robot and have a description also (outlining the variation). Boxes could also be numbered this way (1.b1? or 1.b2 for a second box variation).

There could be a text only index and also a seperate visual index with thumbs/title. We could add to these without having to reorder them (say if a new robot was discovered).

Basic (and free) search functions will allow text-based searches (ie nomura...)- image based searches (with thumbs as the search result) would be more difficult. We could (invisibly) tag individual pages with descriptions of the robot and box to assist with this kind of search perhaps?

Having just read over this, another thought is that we could order the robots chronologically or based on their style (as opposed to strictly arbitrarily)? Perhaps easier in thought than in practice...

Whew.. I'm not a particularly fast typer so hopefully this has all come out reasonably lucidly.

What do other people think? Also, Brian, what general advice/thoughts do you have on the matter? You, probably better than anyone would understand the technical and logistical issues? What are your opinions on the matter?

;)

[robert]

(id)

My first thought on this is that it doesn't really add anything to a search if you are new to the site and just trying to dig up info on a robot. How would a newcomer know what robot had what number? Unless I am misunderstanding your premise, you would still end up searching through every robot with the name "ROBOT" until you stumbled on what you were looking for. But keep in mind that we can cross-reference all of those robots in a variety of ways with text-based search engines to narrow the search down: battery operated, wind up, or remote controlled robot. Plastic, tin robot. 1950's, 60's 70's robot and so on. I think that we, as collectors, will have no problem with this system and it would also serve those with little or no knowledge in the hobby but are used to performing searches utilizing this standard format.

I am not completely sold on the Thumbnail search as an overall means of searching - too much like thumbing through mug shots in a police Perps book - you get snowblind after awhile if the range is too vast, as I am sure it would be if every robot is included. We need to look into that. I think it would definately serve a function, but maybe only as a generic link to a more concise text-based search.

I agree it would be best to set everything up in relation to a timeline. That could be the backbone of the overall layout - robots from the 40's, the 50's the 60's, thats a nice broad catagory and a good starting point for any search.

Feel free to dispute this, like you I am just thinking out loud..

[Robotnut]

Regardless of the search method there should be

an "Ask the Robot" link on every page. I get several

"I had this robot as a kid" questions a week. After

answering a few questions, I direct them to pictures

of their long lost robot. As I mentioned, I can likely

provide the space and some pictures, but someone

will have to do the hard work... :blink:

[(id)]

Hi Robert,

good points. I guess I saw the numbering idea as relevant in terms of a catalogue. I believe we are talking about hundreds if not thousands of robots - and I saw it as a way of keeping track of them all. I was also kind of thinking of them in a similar way to book pages. Perhaps it is not the best way. I agree robots need to grouped in some in some kind of logical way (and as you point out, this lends itself to the layout and structure of the website)... is chronologically or by style better? These two options would seem to be the front-runners to me, as opposed to by drive mechanism etc. If you look at, say Zoomer, where there is a wind-up, battery operated and remote control version - to have them in different categories when they are esssentially the same robot, to me would be incorrect.

In terms of the thumbs, I think if you are just browsing and not looking for something specific (for which you would enter search terms) there are 2 ways of presenting the lists - as text or visually as small thumbs (or a combination of both). If you didn't know much about robots, I believe browsing visually might be the most effective way. I think you can make it visually appealing (ie some of the gridded layouts in 'Future Toys' with the robot faces- which look fantastic) and still make it efficient in terms of size. I agree with the eye fatigue aspect. I guess this is where breaking them down into concise categories is useful, I don't see 30 nicely presented thumbs on a page as too much on the eye.

I guess if we look at each robot's page as a self contained entity and then explore ways as to how we can effectively point people to the page they want to go to, that is essentially what we are trying to achieve. I have no problem with you challanging anything I raise, I think by looking at this from different angles we will arrive at the best solution!

As an aside do you have any thoughts on where the parameters are.. is plastic tied in with tin? Is there a cut-off point time-wise (ie 70's)? Space toys in general... do you see it growing to include them? Also, are there any existing models for websites that do a similar thing to what you're proposing (in terms of function) that you (or anyone else) knows of?

That's about all for now, i better do some work! :lol: