What will it do?

Right now, you can see the Model A Ford version of the device. It can sign at a distance, though slowly. Its design is clunky. But once we have added some bells and whistles, it will:

*  Be intensely portable - that is, almost all you'll have to do to set it up is plug it in.
*  Enable a reader in a bookstore to make a dedication request, in the course of a conversation with the writer via two-way screen (you can see them, they can see you).
*  Allow the writer - from a distance (in another city, in another country, in the writer's home, in the publisher's office) to write the dedication on a tablet.
*  Allow both writer and reader to view the dedication for spelling errors, etc.
*  Write the dedication on an actual book, with a real pen using real ink.

If desired, it will also allow the writer to:

*  Give a reading at a distance, via hookup to a larger screen.
*  Give the audience a tour of the writing space.
*  Allow the session to be recorded for addition to a TV show or a website, etc.
*  Allow the reader to purchase signed books in this way over the net.
*  Allow books to be signed for sale later - the usual back-of-the-store assembly line process - with a device that records the author's signature and allows it to write without the author being there at all. We can even make each signature slightly different.
*  So the author won't inadvertently sign a cheque or buy a refrigerator, the device would take a picture of each thing signed and store it for future reference.

The full development process can be two of: cheaper, better, faster.

That is, if it is cheaper and faster, it won't be better. If it is cheaper and better, it won't be faster. If it is better and faster, it won't be cheaper. So let's say anything from six months to eighteen months.