00100					A.I. Laboratory
00200					Stanford University
00300					Stanford Calif.,94305
00400					October 30, 1973
00500	
00600	
00700	
00800	Prof. Nick Horn
00900	A.I.Laboratory
01000	M.I.T.
01100	545 Technology Sq.
01200	Cambridge, Ma. 02139
01300	
01400	Dear Nick:
01500	
01600		I know that you are very anxious  to  see  the  M.I.T.    arm
01700	actually  at  M.I.T.  Well, this letter is to bring you up to date on
01800	the status and assure you that progress is really being made  towards
01900	getting a working arm to you in the shortest possible time.
02000	
02100		Since  the  A.I.   conference in August, the following things
02200	have been done to the arm.      The  motors  and  gearing  have  been
02300	installed  in  all  of  the  six  joints.   What  work remains is the
02400	debugging of all the joints-looking for weak points  and  putting  in
02500	joint  stops.  Also required is the installation of the potentiometer
02600	elements and wiring up  the  arm.    I  have  still  not  chosen  the
02700	connector  arrangement  or  even  fully  solved  all the wire routing
02800	problems.  I'm hoping to be able to put  all  the  wires  inside  the
02900	structure,  so  that  the arm will look just like the unpowered model
03000	you have at the present time.  Then there is the power supply. I have
03100	spent quite a bit of time thinking about just what kind of controller
03200	is really necessary.  Marvin seemed to like the idea of  some  simple
03300	manual  controller  to  enable remote manual operation of the arm.  I
03400	have talked to Russ Noftsker and am sending him some of my  ideas  on
03500	just  what electronic package you should employ. To speed things up a
03600	bit, he has sort of volunteered to take a bit of time to look over my
03700	ideas, and maybe make the package at M.I.T.
03800	
03900		The remaining work should take about two weeks more, assuming
04000	that I am able to put a few hours a day of my time into it. This  may
04100	sound  like  a  long  time  for  the  solution of a few problems, but
04200	remember that there is a lot  of  development  work  associated  with
04300	every detail of the arm.    For example:   The potentiometer elements
04400	have been purchased from the New England Instrument Corp.   They  are
04500	delivered  as  a single sheet of flexible conductive plastic material
04600	which must be cut  into  rings  of  the  proper  inside  and  outside
04700	diameters.  These rings must then have a resistance gap cut into them
04800	and leads bonded to the segment ends with  conductive  epoxy  cement.
04900	After  this,  the  rings are bonded to a piece of p.c. board and then
05000	bonded in place on the arm.   Next the precious  metal  wiper  finger
05100	elements  are  mounted  on an insulated block.  These blocks are then
05200	mounted on their respective joints. The above may sound easy-  and  I
05300	hope  it  will  be  once all these special procedures are ironed out,
05400	which takes time.
05500	
05600	
05700		Let me now say a bit about the way things are being  done  at
05800	the  present.  Stanford Univ. has not ordered an arm- the only people
05900	who have ordered arms are you and SRI.  I accepted an order from  SRI
06000	(John Hill's group) for one arm because they are close to me and this
06100	will enable me to use them as a testing ground  which  I  can  easily
06200	visit.   They have a Nova already hooked to a Rancho arm and will add
06300	this new arm to their system. I hope to give them the second arm  off
06400	the  production  line.   You will get the 3rd and 4th and more if you
06500	want them.    In any event- VICARM is not really in business yet,  as
06600	I'm  not  accepting  any  other  orders at the present time, nor do I
06700	intend to start spending more time on the arm than I have been. Since
06800	Stanford  doesn't  want an arm at this time, I am working on it on my
06900	own time at nights, weekends and in the time I have  taken  off  from
07000	work-  I  am presently less than a full time employee at Stanford for
07100	just such a purpose. Besides my spare time, I have made a  deal  with
07200	the  Dept.   of Chemsitry Machine Shop.  They have made all the parts
07300	for the equivalent of two arms.    They  charge  $10  per  hour  plus
07400	material.   Enclosed you will find two bills I have recieved.   These
07500	represent their work on your arms.  As I have already spent  lots  of
07600	money on the gear cutting ($1005), purchased parts (about $1000), and
07700	special services such as anodizing, and special machining without yet
07800	sending you a bill, I think it fair that you pay these bills directly
07900	to Stanford University.    The sooner the better, as they are  on  my
08000	back  for  the earlier one of the two. I told Russ Noftsker about the
08100	bills and he said they would be no problem.
08200	
08300		I hope that this note answers some  of  your  questions,  and
08400	stretches  your  patience  a bit longer.  Once again, let me reassure
08500	you that I am working hard to get the arm to you as soon as possible.
08600	You  will  not be dissappointed as I too have enough at stake to make
08700	the success of the arm of paramount importance to both you and I.
08800	
08900	
09000					Regards,
09100	
09200	
09300					Vic Scheinman