Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly


The PUMA is an industrial robotic arm developed by Victor Scheinman at pioneering robot company Unimation. Initially developed for General Motors, the PUMA was based on earlier designs Scheinman invented while at Stanford University.
Unimation produced PUMAs for years until being purchased by Westinghouse, and later by Swiss company Stäubli. Nokia Robotics manufactured about 1500 PUMA robots during the 1980s, the Puma-650 being their most popular model with customers. Some own Nokia Robotics products were also designed, like or NRS-15
. Nokia sold their Robotics division in 1990.
In 2002, General Motors Controls, Robotics and Welding organization donated the original prototype PUMA robot to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. It joins a collection of historically important robots that includes an early Unimate and the Odetics Odex 1.
The essence of the design is represented in three categories; 200, 500, and 700 series.
The 200 series is a smaller desktop unit. Notably, this model was used for the first robotic stereotactic brain biopsy in 1985.
The 500 Series and can reach almost 2 meters up. This model is the more popular design and is the most recognizable configuration.
The 700 series is the largest of the group and was intended for assembly line, paint, and welding work.
All designs consist of two main components: the mechanical arm and the control system. These are typically interconnected by one or two large multi-conductor cables. When two cables are used, one carries power to the servo motors and brakes while the second carries the position feedback for each joint back to the control system.
The control computer is based on the LSI-11 architecture which is very similar to PDP11 computers. The system has a boot program and basic debug tool loaded on ROM chips. The operating system is loaded from external storage through a serial port, usually from a floppy disk.
The control unit also contains the servo power supply, analog and digital feedback processing boards, and servo drive system.

Model 260

Joint maximumsDegrees
Waist315
Shoulder320
Elbow300
Wrist bend236
Wrist roll575
Tool flange525

Model 560 C

Joint MaximumsDegrees
Waist320
Shoulder266
Elbow284
Wrist Bend200
Wrist Roll280
Tool Flange532

Model 761 and 762

761: 1.50m from center axis to center of wrist
762: 1.25m from center axis to center of wrist
761: 600 kg
762: 590 kg
761: 10 kg
762: 20 kg
Joint MaximumsDegrees
Waist320
Shoulder220
Elbow270
Wrist Bend200
Wrist Roll532
Tool Swivel600

Control system