First sneek peak at LDD 4.0

[Calabar]

I hope they don't really package design by me sets manually!

Perhaps it is only a way to show how LEGO care it's clients, but not the real procedure!

[SpiderSpaceman]

Yes, a lot could be done to speed the process, unless this is a program to provide employment for unemployed Dutch...

Oh, and grumble grumble grumble ... want a release date ... grumble grumble grumble...

But you can't deny it looks like a fun monotonous job

Oh, and you're never gonna get one ... chuckle chuckle

Nah I'm itching for it too...

[Jetro]

I hope they don't really package design by me sets manually!

Perhaps it is only a way to show how LEGO care it's clients, but not the real procedure!

Yeah, and that's why they prepare a video to trick us into believing it's really this complex so we'll understand the high prices a little better when in gaft they have 2 dozen oompaloompa's doing all of that in half the time while merrely siging the LEGO song. ...

[Aanchir]

I hope they don't really package design by me sets manually!

Perhaps it is only a way to show how LEGO care it's clients, but not the real procedure!

Did you think there was some magic sorting machine that could accept custom orders, one box at a time? While that's a nice thing to anticipate for the future, it's just not feasible, especially since it's impossible to package these in bulk anyway. The machines would have to work in perfect sync, packaging the parts to multiple completely unrelated sets at once. Using people is much more feasible.

And I certainly hope this lays to rest all suggestions that LEGO charges intentionally unreasonable prices. Fact is, since DesignByMe sets can't be mass-produced no matter what, creating a robot to package each and every one-time order would be impractical, especially since the DesignByMe palette changes yearly. I understand perfectly that unless DesignByMe is a wild success, LEGO isn't likely to acquire the budget to make such a huge technical investment.

[prateek]

I want that job! Just walk around filling bags with Lego!

[Zerobricks]

I want that job! Just walk around filling bags with Lego!

And ocasional pockets?

[SpiderSpaceman]

And ocasional pockets?

No that's where the automation comes in - the robots make sure everything adds up at the end of the day - and

hunt

you

down

if it doesn't.

Boogie boogie boogie.

[Superkalle]

Yeah, and that's why they prepare a video to trick us into believing it's really this complex so we'll understand the high prices a little better when in gaft they have 2 dozen oompaloompa's doing all of that in half the time while merrely siging the LEGO song. ...

[Calabar]

Did you think there was some magic sorting machine that could accept custom orders, one box at a time?

No magic, but simply an industrial sorting machine.

There are machines based on optical recognition that sots just picked tomatoes sorting that by colour and size, here is requested much less: a machine that receive e list of pieces and provide that from the right container (I suppose pieces has been divided, one box for each, previously in production stage).

Then pieces could be enveloped by the machine itself, employers should only manage packaging operations (compose the box, put instructions and envelopes inside, close the box).

It would surely speed up the whole process, and I don't think it would be an impossible investment for LEGO.

Edited September 15, 2010 by Calabar

[Aanchir]

No magic, but simply an industrial sorting machine.

There are machines based on optical recognition that sots just picked tomatoes sorting that by colour and size, here is requested much less: a machine that receive e list of pieces and provide that from the right container (I suppose pieces has been divided, one box for each, previously in production stage).

Then pieces could be enveloped by the machine itself, employers should only manage packaging operations (compose the box, put instructions and envelopes inside, close the box).

It would surely speed up the whole process, and I don't think it would be an impossible investment for LEGO.

No, it wouldn't be impossible, but I highly doubt that DesignByMe is profitable enough that they would consider it a "safe" investment. My family works in the newspaper industry and we recently got a new plant that has a special robot that fetches the inserts for each issue. But that was an enormous investment, and required the entire facility to be built around it.

Also, it's a lot easier to ensure quality control when using human labor. A robot could cause plenty of slowdown if it takes them any time at all to get the new system running. If the DesignByMe palette were to change, for instance, you'd have to give it a new set of coordinates for what pieces could be found in what bins-- any errors in the programming and you might end up with a bunch of faulty sets. And suppose someone's model only contains one of a certain piece-- is a robot arm supposed to carry that individual piece to an individual bin for the packaging people to take care of? Overall, LEGO would have to be assured of the profitability of such an investment before they even approached the idea.

[Ras 74]

It is to bad that these sets costs a fortune.

I would love to design a set and get it like this one day.

Question is however, should you order two at the same time?

One to build, and one to keep in MINT.

Any update on the release of 4.0??

Starting to want it pretty badly right now.

[Calabar]

No, it wouldn't be impossible [...]

LEGO is a worldwide company, not a familiar business.

So I think that an industrial machine of this kind is an investment that they could do without drain their blood (I hope this sentence is right or at least understandable :p ).

Moreover, I think the machine would be much more fast and reliable than human hands: data directly acquired by design by me software, no human errors reading brick lists, no need to wander between hallway full of bricks' containers.

The machine I've in mind is enough simple: like sweetening pillows containers, composed by a box and a "filter" (different for every kind of brick), with a simple check mechanism (based on weight check or optical recognition).

If prices would be comparable to LEGO official sets, I think much more people would use design by me to buy LEGO.

But that will be possible only if LEGO would automatize the procedure, in order to be able to satisfy the demand and speed up the whole process.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Calabar

[LDDtechnician]

Looks great!

This is my first LDD update, so I have no idea what to hope for.

1) is there any roumors about when it will be released?

2) is there maybe new (technic!!) bricks in the 4.0 version?

[Aanchir]

Looks great!

This is my first LDD update, so I have no idea what to hope for.

1) is there any roumors about when it will be released?

2) is there maybe new (technic!!) bricks in the 4.0 version?

The last release date we've heard was the vague "September". So it should be later this month, unless of course it was pushed back (which is still a possibility).

[M'Kyuun]

LEGO is a worldwide company, not a familiar business.

So I think that an industrial machine of this kind is an investment that they could do without drain their blood (I hope this sentence is right or at least understandable :p ).

Moreover, I think the machine would be much more fast and reliable than human hands: data directly acquired by design by me software, no human errors reading brick lists, no need to wander between hallway full of bricks' containers.

The machine I've in mind is enough simple: like sweetening pillows containers, composed by a box and a "filter" (different for every kind of brick), with a simple check mechanism (based on weight check or optical recognition).

If prices would be comparable to LEGO official sets, I think much more people would use design by me to buy LEGO.

But that will be possible only if LEGO would automatize the procedure, in order to be able to satisfy the demand and speed up the whole process.

I agree with your ideas. Hopefully, TLG will consider automating the whole Design by Me process; they already use the requisite technologies for assembling their production sets. If DBM models can be assigned a code, or the parts list made available to a computer, and subsequently communicated to a robot to gather the parts, the entire process could be made far more efficient, and hopefully, cheaper for us and TLG. Moreover, if TLG uses a cataloging system whereby each DBM model is assigned a code, anyone can order anyone else's, or multiples of their own, models, since the entire parts pallette would be attached to that model's code, and robots could gather the neccessary parts much quicker than a person. Granted, there goes somebody's job.

[SpiderSpaceman]

Has anyone contacted the LDD team recently for a new release date estimate?

[JopieK]

Yes, a lot could be done to speed the process, unless this is a program to provide employment for unemployed Dutch...

Oh, and grumble grumble grumble ... want a release date ... grumble grumble grumble...

I think we Dutch are too lazy for doing that by hand, why not create a nice robot for doing this, I mean, it is just a matter of creating an automated storage facility and pickup units that van retrieve a certain ammount of items from a certain container. That might be even doable with a bunch of NXT's ;)

@M'Kyuun: there a a lot of such a systems and they have been around already for quite a while. I lecture Computer Science (Technical Informatics and Robotics) and one of our semesters is totally set up around factory automation. Take a look at this e.g. (pharmacy automation system):

[mgmchenry]

Has anyone contacted the LDD team recently for a new release date estimate?

Just let me know when it's September. :)

I wonder how I can become a beta tester...

[vynsane]

I agree with your ideas. Hopefully, TLG will consider automating the whole Design by Me process; they already use the requisite technologies for assembling their production sets. If DBM models can be assigned a code, or the parts list made available to a computer, and subsequently communicated to a robot to gather the parts, the entire process could be made far more efficient, and hopefully, cheaper for us and TLG. Moreover, if TLG uses a cataloging system whereby each DBM model is assigned a code, anyone can order anyone else's, or multiples of their own, models, since the entire parts pallette would be attached to that model's code, and robots could gather the neccessary parts much quicker than a person. Granted, there goes somebody's job.

The major reason automation works so well with production sets is that it's the same item over and over again, so it can rifle off a slew of sets in succession. The machine still has to be programmed to gather the parts for that set, however. Conversely, the DbM models are essentially one-offs (unless they're really good, and someone else orders your design), which doesn't really utilize the benefits of the automated process.

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever ordered someone else's design via DbM? I wonder how regular an occurrence it is...

Anyway, I'm really anticipating ver. 4.0... I feel like some of the tools in 3.x are just not all the way there yet (hinge align tool, I'm looking in your direction...)

Edited September 30, 2010 by vynsane

[JopieK]

The major reason automation works so well with production sets is that it's the same item over and over again, so it can rifle off a slew of sets in succession. The machine still has to be programmed to gather the parts for that set, however. Conversely, the DbM models are essentially one-offs (unless they're really good, and someone else orders your design), which doesn't really utilize the benefits of the automated process.

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever ordered someone else's design via DbM? I wonder how regular an occurrence it is...

Anyway, I'm really anticipating ver. 4.0... I feel like some of the tools in 3.x are just not all the way there yet (hinge align tool, I'm looking in your direction...)

I still think automation is very doable. Maybe using a tube system with small latches that release parts, it even doesn't be mechanically very challenging. I'm an Applied University teacher in Robotics and Factory Automation so I have at least some background in it :)

B.t.w. like a real software project they just missed the deadline of september ;)

[Lego Otaku]

I still think automation is very doable. Maybe using a tube system with small latches that release parts, it even doesn't be mechanically very challenging. I'm an Applied University teacher in Robotics and Factory Automation so I have at least some background in it :)

B.t.w. like a real software project they just missed the deadline of september ;)

How many brick type and colors are there? Even if we limited the selection to current LDD palette, probably a thousand right now so refitting all with tubes would be time consuming. Plus the result would still need to be checked by a person in case an extra brick slipped out or one got stuck in the tube.

There are lots of pro and cons of trying to automate LDD creation but ultimately cost of retrofitting is one of them and I have no idea how many people actually buys their creation through LDD. If it's a few a day world wide, then it may not be cost effective to automate. But if they regularly get 100+ a day, automating would cut time and save money in the long run.

[vynsane]

I still think automation is very doable. Maybe using a tube system with small latches that release parts, it even doesn't be mechanically very challenging. I'm an Applied University teacher in Robotics and Factory Automation so I have at least some background in it :)

I didn't say it wasn't very doable, just not an efficient use of the benefits of automation. I'm sure LEGO did their due diligence, crunched the numbers, and simply said "It's not worth it".

B.t.w. like a real software project they just missed the deadline of september ;)

Being a webdesigner, I have some background in that ;)

[prateek]

It's October, and....

No LDD 4.0!!!

Yes, this deserves all these emoticons.

[BrickWild]

It's October, and....

No LDD 4.0!!!

Yes, this deserves all these emoticons.

I know your post above has deserves multiple emoticons, but patience is a virtue!

[Lego Otaku]

I know your post above has deserves multiple emoticons, but patience is a virtue!

Not when it's liable to be loaded with bugs.

Such as:

[rant] 2x4 bricks won't go half stud off set on a 1x3 brick. If we got LDD 4.0 earlier we could have a bug fixed version before October [/rant]