Welcome To The WinPuma Home Page
(A PUMA Robot Arm Controller For MS-Windows)

Click Here For A WinPuma Status Report (7/12/1996)

WinPuma was developed at the University of North Dakota starting in the summer of 1994 after receiving funding from the National Science Foundation to build a Motion Controls Lab. WinPuma is a MS-Windows 3.x application which includes a Real-Time Controller version as well as a demo or simulator version requiring no hardware. WinPuma is constructed entirely of C++ classes including those for devices, files, timers, math, graphics, windows, controls etc. The demo version of WinPuma is ideal for giving students the ability to experiment with robotics without risking harm to personnel or damage to equipment. Both versions of WinPuma include support for sythesized speech via the Monologue for Windows Speech Engine.

(Clicking The Hyperlinks Below Will Show Each Window or Dialog As It Appears During Runtime)
Main Control Window
Move Joints With Simple Drag & Drop Via Mouse Cursor
Compass Like Custom Controls For Joint Status & Control
Sliders To Set Profile Velocity & Acceleration
Meters To Indicate Axial Velocity & Potentiometer Voltage
Alarm Panel To Indicate Error Conditions
Relay Panel To Indicate Controller's Configuration Status
Emergency Stop Button Which Replicates The Emergency Stop Switch
User Selectable XYZ Fields For Monitoring Positions/Forces/Torques
3D Kinematic Viewer
Pseudo Real-Time 3D Display Of The Robot
Easily Adjustable Elevation & Rotation Viewer Controls
Option To Display Internal Kinematic Segments & Shadow
Option To Set Color & Shading Of Various Components
Position & Velocity Profiler
User Choice Of Position Or Veclocity Profiles
User Choice Of Timing Window
User Choice Of Which Joints To Profile
Two Separate Profilers Are Supported
PID Tuning Dialog
Real-Time Adjustment of PID Gains
Separate Control Of Each PID Controller
File Replay Dialog
Replay Files Containing Movement & Other Commands
ASCII Text File Allows For Easy Editing
Simple CD-Player Like Controls
Several Commands Including WAV's & Sythesized Speech
Event & Replay Timing Information
Option To Set Multiple Or Infinite Replays
Voltage Step Dialog (Open-Loop)
Bypass DSP Controller To Insert Open-Loop Voltage Step
Saves Data In ASCII Spreadsheet Import Format
Supports 1msec Timing Resolution
Usefull in recovering joint model parameters
Position Step Dialog (Closed-Loop)
Bypass DSP Profiler To Insert Closed-Loop Position Step
Saves Data In ASCII Spreadsheet Import Format
Supports 1msec Timing Resolution
Usefull in verifying joint model parameters
Joint-Mode Pendant Dialog
Direct Control Of Axial Velocity
Velocity Magnitude Based On Arrow Pad Cursor Location
Mimics A Hardware Based Joint-Mode Teach Pendant
(Revised January 23, 2006 by Webmaster )