This work deals with the design and real-time implementation of a backstepping control system with the capability to simultaneously track the car and arm reference positions of a translational manipulator of 2DOF (2 Degrees of Freedom). The design of the backstepping controller is based on the nonlinear dynamic model of the manipulator. Simulation studies demonstrated that the outputs of the designed control system, car and arm positions, were able to follow sinusoidal and step form signals. A cRIO (compact Reconfigurable Input Output) device with proper input and output modules was used to embed the control and the HMI (Human Machine Interface) programs written in LabVIEW code. The good control performance of the designed backstepping control system was compared with the results obtained by an adaptive control system.