WinMechLab: A Windows-based Software Tool for Real-time Control of Mechatronic Systems

Abstract: Real-time control of industrial processes has become an important issue in the recent years. Advances in hardware and software technologies allow the use of single-processor computers to perform real–time tasks. The paper first explains the basic elements of PC–based real–time control systems. Then, it describes the general operation of WinMechLab, a real–time single–processor platform for the simulation and control of mechanisms based on MS–Windows. Finally, we show the application of this software tool in a simple control task of a direct–drive didactic robot arm. 1