Robots can now “learn” by hand, voice or even animation software

One of the most frequent questions we get on KUKA’s Facebook page and group is how to get started with KUKA robots. Our usual answer is you should take a course at KUKA College . That’s actually true. But there is more than one way to program a robot.

One of our favorite roboticists of all time, andyRobot (AKA Andy Flessas), actually uses animation software to “program” KUKA industrial robots. andyRobot’s Robot Animator® is a plugin for Autodesk Maya® which provides complete animation-based programming for KUKA robots. KUKA robots to be programmed by anyone who knows how to animate inside Maya.

Animated robots do not just have ridiculous grace and good looks. (Of course, we’re slightly biased here.) So they can be “taught” impressive accuracy. Check out this robot, programmed to make basketball again and again for Adidas Warehouse 747.

You may already know KUKA’s collaborative robots like the LBR iiwa can “learn” by demonstrating instead of being programmed for all tasks.

And it turns out robots do not only learn by hand. So they can be pretty good listeners.

Then there what did one time Simone Giertz and Mark Rober even tried controlling a KUKA robotic arm with a hand-held controller …

So what do you think? Have you ever “programmed” a robot in a clever way? We’d love to see your examples of creative robot programming. Upload videos of your project to Instagram or Twitter and use the hashtag #KUKARobot or upload to the KUKA Facebook group . Share the love.