iPhone Becomes Remote Control Programmer for Huge Robot [Video]

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20110914-kr6-robot-iphone.jpg

Here’s something cool from the team at the Institute for Machine Tools and Manufacturing in Berlin, Germany: an iPhone that’s been turned into a remote control for industrial-size robots.

We’re talking big beasts, the sort that do large scale automated manufacturing and assembly. The one in this video is a KUKA KR6, a low payload industrial robot that can turn its, um, hand to all sorts of tasks, including arc welding, soldering and packing.

The German team’s demo video starts off with a tour of the iPhone control system, but stick with it: at about 2:30, the remote control technique starts using data from the iPhone’s accelerometer, so that simply tilting the device to one side sets of an instruction to the robot.

The software isn’t just for direct control, it’s for programming. So you can stand next to your KR6, go through a series of steps on the iPhone, hit the “Run” command and go make coffee while your low payload pal gets on with the work. Pretty cool stuff.

Here’s the video:

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