Instrumentation Database

[Neil Benn]

Hello,

I have an idea/proposal! Many of the questions on the LRIG BB are of the nature 'I'm looking for a robotic arm to do XXX' or 'I'm looking for a dispenser to do YYY'. My proposal is to construct a database of available equipment on the market, the current lab-robotics.org website has a list like this but it is quite large and therefore difficult to navigate. This database would contain the information on equipment and companies and would be searchable via a web-based front end.

Obvioulsy the common objection to this is that it would take a lot of work. To solve this issue, I propose to put out a request to members within the global organisation to volunteer time to work on LRIG relevant projects. This practice is used all the time (Linux, Firefox, Thunderbird) and I feel that you may be surpirsed how many people would be willing to contribute.

I would volunteer to co-ordinate the effort and as a first step, we can send out a message on the general discussion group asking for volunteers.

Please add your comments/ideas to this thread.

Cheers,

Neil