iPhone Used to Control Industrial Robot

Researchers at the Institute for Machine Tools and Manufacturing in Berlin, Germany have developed a very practical use for the iPhone.

They use it as a remote control to manage an industrial sized robot. The kind of robot which is big enough to perform large-scale automated manufacturing and assembly.

In an experiment the German team demonstrated a KUKA KR6 robot being controlled by an iPhone. The low payload industrial robot KUKA KR6 can perform a number of tasks which include welding, soldering and packing.

Using the iPhone the researchers have developed a set of steps which allows you the option of directly controlling the robot as it performs its tasks or programming it. The video demo showed the KUKA KR6 perform a set of tasks that it was programmed to do while the researcher had time off to go get a cup of coffee.