Unimation purchased Victor Scheinman's Vicarm Inc. in 1977, and with Scheinman's help, the company created and began producing the Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly, a new model of robotic arm, and using Scheinman's cutting-edge VAL programming language. However, the automotive companies that had been Unimation's earliest and most reliable clients began moving away from the use of hydraulically powered robotic arms in the early 1980s in favor of electric motors, a change that Engelberger vehemently opposed. Sales fell, and the company was acquired by Westinghouse in 1982 for $107 million. Engelberger, who had served as Unimation's chief executive since its inception, left the company not long thereafter.