COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	{FCW0,1260,0,1900I30,0
C00009 ENDMK
C⊗;
{FC;W0,1260,0,1900;I30,0;
⊂C;}JOHN MC CARTHY: {JR;FA} 24 NOVEMBER 1974.{JUFA}
⊂~I RECOMMEND THAT YOU TAKE THE FOLLOWING SIX ADMINISTRATIVE STEPS:~⊃

\⊂(1) A SINGLE LINE OF COMMAND FOR VISION/ROBOTICS HARDWARE
SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED THRU GAFFORD TO FINISH THE PDP-11 BY MARCH 1975.⊃

\The Hand/Eye Group  and the Perception  Group should be  merged into
one Vision/Robotics Group with either Binford, Quam or Baumgart fully
in charge of administering  all the vision/robotics hardware  through
one hardware person: Gafford.  Gafford  should be placed in charge of
all  vision/robotics design and engineering. Quam and Panofsky should
be asked to turn in all written materials that  they have finished up
to the  present time - Gafford  should do the designs  himself and be
provided with funds  to hire  outside help for  wirewrapping and  dip
installing.  A  special  bonus or  prize  should be  established  for
Gafford for completion of the PDP-11 System by the end of March 1975. 

⊂(2) RESEARCH PROGRAMMERS' WORKING CONDITIONS SHOULD BE IMPROVED.⊃

\Each III display terminal should be provided with isolation and quiet
as  good as  that granted to  the Music  people in their  Music Room.
Research programming and  debugging is  a private activity - constant
interruptions,   socializing   and    pedestrian   traffic   decrease
productivity.  The Display Room might be partitioned or
III rooms might be  established in what is  now the
shop, Bolles's Office or the color-television room. 

⊂(3) SAFETY FOR PEOPLE WORKING IN THE HAND-EYE AREA SHOULD BE ASSURED.⊃

\(3A) The lights should be placed higher or replaced with smaller ones
so that  people do not bump their heads on  the lights.  (3B) The arm
zones should  be railed  off,  so that  the arms  do not  hit  people
(Asimov's law I).  (3C) All  cables and air hoses  should be
placed  under the  floor so that  people do not  trip on  them.  (3D)
Technicians (specifically Joe Zingheim) should put their tools away
and turn off their soldering irons before leaving the premises.

⊂(4) RECENT BUSINESS RECORDS SHOULD BE STUDIED.⊃

\Baumgart or Jobe should look at  the Laboratory  business
records  in order  to make a  quantative report  on how the  money in
recent years has been acquired  and spent. All RA's and  admistrators
should be permitted to read the report, if they wish.  The main facts
that should  be quantatively reported is how much each research group
(HE, NL, AP, P, MTC,  Music, etc) has spent on salaries and  how much
computer  services each  group  used. Furthermore  the  overhead cost
should be  studied as  well as  how much  has been  spent on  systems
hardware and how much has been spent on vision/robotics hardware. 

⊂(5)  HOURLY COMPUTER USEAGE SHOULD BE RECORDED.⊃

\The SPY program  should be improved  in order to keep  useage records
good to  the hour (or even to the quarter  hour) - so that sufficient
data is available  to make  histograms of computer  useage (and  null
time) as a function of time of  day and day of week.  The SPY program
should record  the time and duration of when there are
no data disc channels available and when the job capacity is exceeded.

\⊂(6) IN THE NEXT ARPA PROPOSAL PERIOD, RESEARCH GROUP LEADERS SHOULD BE
GIVEN MORE BUDGET RESPONSIBILITIES AND EARNEST SHOULD HAVE FEWER.⊃

\The  people doing  the  research  that  supports the  lab  should  be
entitled  to spend the research  money that the  government grants to
them. Money should not be  spent on projects that are not  explicitly
supported  by bona  fide  reseach  grants -  for  example most  Music
(Smith,  Gray,  Chowning);  Computer  Art  (Cohen);  Vending  Machine
Inerface (Earnest);  private businesses (Pitts  and Zingheim)  should
not be supported by government research money. 
Furthermore, I  should not have  to beg  Les Earnest for  a
computer controlled turntable  and have him laugh in my face, tell me
to go to a chinese restaurant, tell me to turn it with my hand and in
the end after twelve  month to have my turntable (as  well as my cart
controller)  ripped out and  not replaced.  I  should go into  Earnest
and be able to say "Here is a thousand dollars of my research money;
please, get a computer controlled turntable installed". 
{JR;FC} BRUCE G. BAUMGART