00100					A.I. Laboratory
00200					Stanford University
00300					Stanford Calif.,94305
00400					September 7, 1973
00500	
00600	
00700	Prof. Pat Winston:
00800	A.I.Laboratory:
00900	M.I.T.
01000	545 Technology Sq.
01100	Cambridge, Ma. 02139
01200	
01300	Dear Pat:
01400	
01500		I  know  that  you  are  very  anxious to see the M.I.T.  arm
01600	actually at M.I.T.  Well, this letter is to bring you up to  date  on
01700	the  status and assure you that progress is really being made towards
01800	getting an arm to you in the shortest possible time.
01900	
02000		Since the A.I.  conference in August,  the  following  things
02100	have  been  done  to  the  arm.    The  motors  and gearing have been
02200	installed in 4 of the six joints.  The other two joints are currently
02300	being  worked  on  while  we  await delivery of their motors from the
02400	manufacturer.   Promised delivery was about a month ago, but now they
02500	say  that  shipment will occur sometime during the next week.    When
02600	all the motors are installed and operating properly- expected  within
02700	the  next  week  or so, the potentiometer elements will be installed.
02800	This should take about another week.  That may sound like a long time
02900	to  you,  but  remember  that  there  is  a  lot  of development work
03000	associated  with  every  detail  of  the  arm.    For  example:   The
03100	potentiometer  elements  have  been  purchased  from  the New England
03200	Instrument Corp.   They are delivered as a single sheet  of  flexible
03300	conductive  plastic  material  which  must  be  cut into rings of the
03400	proper inside and outside diameters. These rings  must  then  have  a
03500	resistance  gap  cut  into  them and leads bonded to the segment ends
03600	with conductive epoxy cement.  After this, the rings are bonded to  a
03700	piece  of  p.c. board and then bonded in place on the arm.   Next the
03800	precious metal wiper finger elements  are  mounted  on  an  insulated
03900	block.  These blocks are then mounted on their respective joints. The
04000	above may sound easy- and I hope it will be once  all  these  special
04100	procedures are ironed out, which takes time.
04200	
04300		After the pot elements are mounted, the arm will be wired up,
04400	and the electronics manufactured. Now this is another area which will
04500	take  some  time  and  so  to  speed  things up, I'm hoping that your
04600	electronics hackers at Tech can do the power amplifiers and the other
04700	things  required to run the arm.  This includes the manual controller
04800	Marvin has in mind, and also the fancy driver for the hand.   I  will
04900	explain to Silver- all that is necessary, so that when he returns, he
05000	will know enough about the arm to direct the electronics  design  and
05100	assembly.
05200	
05300		I  am  hoping  to have all the details worked out and the arm
05400	completed enough for you to have it in about  2-3  weeks.   Maybe  in
05500	time for Silver to bring it along with him.
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.
08100	
08200		I  hope  that  this  note answers some of your questions, and
08300	stretches your patience a bit longer.  Once again,  let  me  reassure
08400	you that I am working hard to get the arm to you as soon as possible.
08500	You will not be dissappointed as I too have enough at stake  to  make
08600	the success of the arm of paramount importance to both you and I.
08700	
08800	
08900					Regards,
09000	
09100	
09200					Vic Scheinman