This thesis describes the design of a control unit for a six degree of freedom (6-DOF) industrial robot. A fundamental theoretical introduction into robot kinematics is provided, whereby multiple state-of-the-art approaches are explained and compared. The goal of this thesis is to establish a kinematic framework, which is fully transparent for educational use. Furthermore, interfacing additional algorithms and hardware components such as sensors is simplified; hence, expansion of the system requires less effort compared to conventional controllers. The robot control is based on an industrial personal computer (PC), which is divided into a real-time programmable logic controller (PLC) and a conventional Windows desktop system. The robot is actuated by six frequency-inverter driven servo motors, which are controlled by the PLC. The PLC is equipped with a generic network interface, which enables execution of remote positioning commands. In this thesis, the forward and inverse kinematic computations for the PLC are implemented in MATLAB. Simulink is utilized to provid a real-time environment for the MATLAB functions on a remote PC in order to communicate with the PLC. The network connection is established via the user datagram protocol (UDP), whereby real-time capabilities are ensured. The overall system's safety related functions are controlled by a dedicated safety PLC. The correct functionality of this customized implementation is validated with the existing industrial solution provide by Bernecker & Rainer. As result of this thesis, a fully operational robot control is obtained, which is utilized for educational purposes such as student projects as well as research on robotic related topics.