Hello buddies,

I'm new here and this is my first post. The last year of Mechatronic Engineering course is driving me crazy.
My classmates and myself are trying to build a manipulator arm assisted by computer.
The idea is the following:
1. Design the mechanical arm;
2. Program a PIC so as to control the arm
3. Control the arm from the computer by a interactive screen where the users could input values of coordinates.

The first big problem we've found was the fact we don't know how to build a software capable to control an external equipment (manipulator arm).
I've found some materials concerning the integration HMI - Human Machine Interface. As I'm a novice in this field of expertise, I'd like to know if you guys could lead us or even give us some tips.
I intend to use Visual Basic to send a signal in order to control the manipulator arm, though I don't know if it's the best solution. I mean, maybe there is another way to control a external equipment with a interactive screen (computer).
OBS: We don't have any experience in Visual Basic.

Please, let me know you can help me !!!

Thanks in advance,


Victor Oliveira Tolentino