GUI application for controlling attocube ANC350 nanopositioners with an Xbox-compatible gamepad. Tested with ANC350 hardware and a Gamesir Xbox-compatible gamepad.
- Closed-loop positioning — X and Y axes are controlled via analog stick; Z axis via long-press of A/B. The stage automatically tracks a virtual target position.
- Analog stick input — XY movement speed is proportional to stick deflection, giving precise, intuitive control.
- Dual-speed XY — hold the left trigger to switch between slow and fast movement speeds.
- Single-step mode — D-pad (X/Y) and short A/B press (Z) trigger discrete steps for fine positioning. The app reads back the actual position from the device after each step.
- Independent axes — XY and Z operate independently. A Z single-step does not pause XY movement, and vice versa.
- Real-time position display with XY diagram and per-axis velocity readout.
- Per-axis amplitude, frequency, and DC voltage control.
- Configurable range limits, axis inversion, and diagram flip.
- All settings persist across sessions.
- Operating system: Windows. The ANC350 driver also supports Linux (see attocube-systems/ANC350_Python_Control); Linux support may be added in a future release.
- Gamepad: Xbox-compatible (XInput). PlayStation and Nintendo Switch controllers require a wrapper such as DS4Windows or Steam Input.
- If running from source: Python 3.8+ and the packages listed in the Installation section.
- Driver DLLs:
anc350v4.dllv1.2.0 (MIT) andlibusb0.dllv1.2.5.0 (LGPL v2.1) are bundled inside the pre-built executable. Third-party licenses are in thelicenses/directory.
Download the latest ANC350_Controller.exe from the Releases page. No installation required — just run the executable.
In case you want to run or build from source:
Run from source:
pip install pyqt5 pyqtgraph
python -m app.mainBuild a standalone executable:
pip install pyqt5 pyqtgraph pyinstaller pillow
pyinstaller ANC350_Controller.specThe executable will be in dist/.
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Left stick | Move X/Y continuously in closed-loop mode. Speed varies with stick deflection. |
| Left trigger (hold) | Switch to fast speed while held. |
| D-pad | Single-step X/Y. Exits closed-loop and reads back the actual position. |
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| A short press | Z forward single step — exits Z closed-loop. |
| A long press | Z forward closed-loop continuous movement at the configured Z speed. |
| B short press | Z backward single step — exits Z closed-loop. |
| B long press | Z backward closed-loop continuous movement at the configured Z speed. |
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Start | Toggle all axes on/off. |
Step mode: After a D-pad or short A/B press, the affected axis enters step mode — the virtual target pauses while the app reads back the actual position. XY resumes when you move the left stick; Z resumes on the next long press of A or B. XY and Z step modes are independent.
- Connect the ANC350 controller via USB.
- Connect your gamepad.
- Launch the app — it will auto-detect the ANC350 device.
- All axes are enabled on startup. Press Start to toggle them on/off.
- Adjust drive parameters (amplitude, frequency, DC voltage) per axis in the Drive Parameters panel.
- Configure range limits, speeds (XY slow/fast, Z), and axis inversion via the Settings button or File → Stage Settings.
anc350v4.dll v1.2.0 from attocube-systems/ANC350_Python_Control, used under MIT license.
libusb0.dll v1.2.5.0 is libusb-win32, used under LGPL v2.1.
Third-party licenses are in the licenses/ directory.