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C00002 00002	Dear Halsey:
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Dear Halsey:

	Bob Floyd and Ed Feigenbaum tell me that you think that the
case for giving Feldman tenure is about the same as the case four
years ago for promoting him to associate professor.  If this were
the case, let me assure you that I would not be writing you or
pushing the case in any way.

	The difference is that four years ago Feldman's main
scientific area was grammatical inference, and it was doubtful to
me that much would come of it.  Not much did.  However, Feldman 
switched his field to robotics, and has become the leading person
in the country in this field rivalled only by Patrick Winston at
M.I.T.  Minsky's letter and the letters from JPL and General Motors
show the high regard in which he is held.  The Research Applied to
National Needs program of NSF is about to give us a substantial
grant based on Feldman's work.

	We will continue our robotics work even if Feldman leaves,
but it will be quite difficult.  You can see the position we will
be in trying to get people to work in the field if Stanford has
just canned the leading person in it.

	What is robotics?  It is making computers interact with the
physical world using vision and touch for sensors and manipulators
and vehicles for effectors.  It is a difficult field to get started
because it demands that our students who come with mathematical
inclinations or with the expectation of developing new programming
languages learn a lot they had never expected to learn and work
in an area where there is little previous work and with a big commitment
to hardware and difficult new software before any rewards can
be perceived.  While robotics is  difficult, it is the key to increases
in manufacturing productivity coupled with increased flexibility
in making small numbers of a complex product and making it with
short lead time.  Feldman has proved to be the most successful person
in the country in planning this work and bringing students along
with him.

	It would be a real blow to lose him.

				Sincerely,
cc. Floyd, Feigenbaum, Quate, Atkinson, Knuth,Miller (alphabetically)