I worked on this piece of software in mid 1990s. I was able to recover the source code and I used Claude to examine the source code and provide me with a short description. What you read below is what Claude returned. The coolest bit is that I was able to run the code (the .EXE) file in DOSBox. I screen recorded the program in action.
This was a collaborative effort. I was part of a team led by Syed Mahmood Ahmed Sahib. I was responsible for the application development—wireframe and shaded 3D rendering and animation. This application uses a DOS based UI framework that I had written a year earlier for my course assignments, back when Windows 95 wasn’t out yet. Others dealt with mathematics of forward and inverse kinematics.
Infomate Wireframe – Forward kinematics
Infomate Wireframe – Forward kinematics
Infomate 3D that implements shading and hidden surface removal
Claude Sonnet 4.5 (model ID: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929)
InfoMate DOS is a sophisticated robotics kinematics analysis and simulation application developed in the mid-1990s, representing a remarkable achievement in DOS-era software engineering. Built entirely with Borland C/C++ across just 23 source files, this compact application demonstrates the ingenuity required to create advanced technical software within the constraints of early 1990s computing.
The application models a cylindrical coordinate robot (with rotational joint θ and prismatic joints d2, d3) and provides comprehensive kinematics analysis through forward and inverse solvers. Users can specify joint parameters to visualize the resulting end-effector position, or input a desired Cartesian position and let the inverse kinematics solver calculate the necessary joint configurations—complete with multiple solution analysis for ambiguous poses.
InfoMate comes in two versions: InfoWire.exe (89KB), featuring wire-frame visualization, and Info3D1.exe (91KB), an enhanced simulator with solid 3D rendering and smooth animation using double-buffered page-flipping techniques. The 3D engine implements custom transformation matrices, perspective projection, and back-face culling—all using software rendering through the Borland Graphics Interface (BGI) for EGA/VGA displays.
What’s particularly impressive is the custom GUI framework built from scratch, predating modern UI libraries. The developers implemented their own complete windowing system with mouse event handling (via direct BIOS interrupts using int86), 3D-styled buttons with highlighting effects, modal dialog boxes, text input fields, and real-time parameter displays. The system even includes audio feedback with PC speaker beeps during robot motion, creating a more engaging user experience.
This application represents both a technical accomplishment and an educational tool, making complex robotics concepts accessible through interactive visualization during an era when such educational software was rare and typically required expensive workstations.
Despite being developed over 30 years ago, both DOS versions of InfoMate remain fully functional and playable today through DOSBox, the popular DOS emulation software. The applications launch seamlessly via provided shell scripts (run-infowire.sh for wire-frame mode, run-info3d.sh for 3D simulation), requiring no modifications to the original executables. Modern users can experience the complete interface: clicking through the custom-built GUI with mouse support, opening dialog boxes to input joint parameters or Cartesian coordinates, watching the real-time 3D wire-frame or solid robot visualization respond to forward kinematics calculations, and hearing the authentic PC speaker beeps that accompany robot motion. The InfoWire.exe version (89KB) provides the core kinematics analysis experience with its clean wire-frame graphics running smoothly in EGA/VGA mode, while Info3D1.exe (91KB) showcases the more advanced 3D simulation with solid rendering and smooth animation through double-buffered graphics.
The fact that these applications run flawlessly in emulation demonstrates the value of software preservation and the robustness of well-engineered DOS programs. All required dependencies—the EGAVGA.BGI graphics driver and LITT.CHR/TRIP.CHR font files—are included and properly configured. Users can interact with the original button-based interface, experiment with different robot configurations, observe how inverse kinematics computes multiple solutions, and appreciate the engineering achievement of delivering sophisticated 3D graphics and real-time kinematics calculations on early 1990s hardware (486 or early Pentium processors). This accessibility transforms InfoMate from merely archived code into living educational software that students, robotics enthusiasts, and software historians can explore firsthand—experiencing both the robotics concepts it teaches and the ingenuity of early PC application development. The applications serve as interactive museum pieces, demonstrating that thoughtfully designed software can transcend its original platform and remain functional and valuable decades later.
Unfortunately, I am unable to share this code.