Remote Robotics Lab XR – Mobile Edition

Inspiration

What it does

How we built it## Inspiration

Robotics is usually locked behind expensive hardware, complex setup, and “you have to be in the lab.” I wanted to flip that: explain robotics with a mobile-first experience where anyone can learn and control a robot arm using only their phone.

What it does

Remote Robotics Lab XR – Mobile Edition is a Horizon world designed specifically for Horizon on mobile. Players use a clean, one-handed touch UI (big buttons + simple sliders) to control a virtual 3-joint robot arm: base rotation, shoulder, elbow, and gripper open/close. The world teaches core concepts like joints, ranges, coordinated motion, and safe control through short micro-lessons and interactive challenges (e.g., move to “Home,” pick and place, repeatable poses).

How I built it

The arm is built as a lightweight “digital twin” inside Meta Horizon Worlds using a modular joint setup and scripted motion limits to keep movement smooth and predictable on mobile. A Custom UI overlay sends input events to the arm controller, which updates angles, clamps limits, and provides instant feedback.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was mobile usability + performance: large tap targets, minimal visual clutter, and avoiding jitter or over-sensitivity while still feeling responsive.

What’s next

Add multiplayer coaching, timed missions, replayable “programming” sequences, and an optional internet bridge that mirrors the same controls to a physical educational robot arm for real-world remote labs.

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for Remote Robotics Lab XR – Mobile Edition

Built With

• custom-ui-gizmo
• horizon-desktop-editor
• interactable/trigger-gizmos
• meta-horizon-worlds
• mobile
• typescript-(horizon-worlds-scripting)
• ux