Machines and robots have long replaced human muscles in many industrial processes. But what is for us a simple movement requires highly complex programming and control of several axes in the case of a robot. At the heart of the experiment "Industrial Robots - musclemen who lend a hand" are the geometric restrictions of a six-axis industrial robot. Using a robot arm modelled after a human arm it becomes evident that just a simple wave of the hand is a combination of complex shoulder, upper and lower arm muscular movement. The students are challenged to program the robot using a so-called teach-in procedure.