We have two Lynx 6 arms in our lab. They have the standard serial controller
(I forget which one). After you send a command to the arm, it takes some time for the controller to execute the command and the servos to reach their target position. Is there a way to query the controller to determine when the servo motion is complete?
We’re really going to need to know which servo controller you are using. What command are you sending? How long is the delay? Input! More Input! 
It is the controller that came with the Lynx 6 kit. It says mini SSC III on the circuit board. We have it hooked up to the serial port of a PC (running Linux). We send
3-byte commands to it: 255, a byte to specify the speed (which is always 1) and
the servo number, and a byte to specify the position. We always send either
3 or 4 commands together (either base+shoulder+elbow or base+shoulder+elbow+hand). We currently use camera feedback to determine when the arm has stopped moving.
Um…
I don’t think that there is an SSC III.
If you’re talking about the SSC II, I’ve just read the instructions, and it doesn’t seem as if there is a way to query the status.
If this is indeed the case, you may want to look into purchasing the SSC-32.
It’s rather affordable, and has the “QP” command which is exactly what you’re looking for, as well as a bunch of other nice goodies.
(Oh, yea, and you can control 32 servos. 
)
Yeah, the SSC-III is actually the Scott Edwards part number for the SSC-12. He Designed it for us to our specs. It should be an easy job for the host computer to calculate the distance being moved, and using the speed variable be able to calculate the time required to complete the move. One thing you said that doesn’t make sense is you use a speed variable of 1. This is not a valid speed value. A speed value of 0 would be as fast as possible. The next valid speed value is 16, which is extremely slow, taking 10.16 seconds to move from 0.5mS to 2.5mS range. Then the speed values get progressively faster by adding 16 to the value. Check out the manual for more information. It’s available on the website.