About the Robot

The Robot is displayed by default in the lower-right corner of the tab. When you move your mouse over the Robot, it is zoomed in for easier manipulation.

• The Robot has three axes, which are represented by the letters X, Y and Z. The z-axis is the default orientation.
• The blue sphere is the manipulation handle you use to drag the Robot and place on objects to be manipulated. You can also rotate objects around this point.
• The base of the Robot, the XY plane, is the privileged plane. This concept is not useful when simply using Select. It is only useful for commands that use handles which require working planes (for example, when creating planar patches or modifying control points).

  
  
  

  • (1) Arrow
  • (2) Axis
  • (3) Arc
  • (4) Privileged plane
  • (5) Axis label
  • (6) Manipulation handle

• When the Robot is dropped onto an object, the labels are always visible:

  
  
  

• When the Robot is dragged over objects, its symbol remains oriented the same.
• The pointer shape changes according to the element you are hovering over:

  Arc	Plane	Axis

The Robot is always active but you can hide it when needed.

• To hide the Robot, enter c:CompassDisplayOff in the power input box, and then press Enter.
• To display the Robot, enter c:CompassDisplayOn in the power input box, and then press Enter.

Note that hiding the Robot does not deactivate it.

You can use the Robot to move either a single object, or multiple objects.

• To move an object contained fixed elements, you have to isolate the fixed element (using the Isolate contextual command).

• Multiselection is supported by the Robot but if you select an object and its container (part or product), then the object might be moved twice the distance of the Robot:
  • The first move corresponds to the move of the object's container (which implies moving the object as well).
  • The second move corresponds to the move of the object itself.

  This behavior depends on the positioning constraints between the object and its container: in standard assemblies, the part remains linked to its container, therefore there is no double move whereas in flexible assemblies and in processes, the object moves twice the distance of the Robot.

• If you are using Assembly Design, which provides a number of advanced positioning tools, consider the Robot as a preliminary tool for positioning components in space prior to fine positioning of those components within the assembly.
• If you are using a 3D mouse, you can also manipulate the Robot when it is in the scene, otherwise the space mouse lets you manipulate the viewpoint.
• The value defined for the Limit display of handles to ... element(s) option through Me > Preferences > Common Preferences > 2D 3D View Display > Navigation is taken into account when manipulating objects with the Robot.