About the Robot

The Robot lets you manipulate the position and orientation of objects. The Robot has three axes, which are represented by the letters U, V, and W. The UVW mapping is based on the XYZ global coordinates using UVW object coordinates to avoid confusion with global coordinates.

This page discusses:

Robot Handles
Displaying the Robot
Moving Objects with the Robot
Keyboard Functions with the Robot
Robot Right Mouse Button Options

Robot Handles

When the Robot is displayed, use the Robot handles to manipulate objects. By default, the Robot is displayed on the center of objects in the work area.

The components of the Robot are defined as follows:

(1) Axis label
(2) Axis arrow
(3) Arc
(4) Center

The axes, arcs, and center are the Robot handles. When a Robot handle is selected, it turns blue and enables you to manipulate the position and orientation of the object. Drag the blue axis handles to move objects linearly along the selected axis or the arc handles to rotate objects about the selected axis.


	Axis handle
	Arc handles
	Center handle

Displaying the Robot

You can display the Robot by clicking on one or more components in the design tree. Depending on the action bar command, the Robot or components of the Robot might be available.


	This is the typical Robot view in a 2D perspective or when using the View > Normal To command. This is also the view when using the Align to Screen Robot option.
	A single axis is displayed when the object can be scaled or moved in a single direction. Drag an axis to scale or move objects along that axis. When a single axis is displayed with a command, you often have a Reverse option the dialog box to flip the direction of the axis.
	Dark and light dots appear at the end of the axis arrow in some commands when you have the option to select or deselect the axis. For example, if dark dots appear at the ends of the three axis arrows while scaling, you can scale two of the axes by selecting the dark dots (turning them to light dots). The third dark dot is not manipulated as you scale the other two.

To increase the size of the Robot, press Shift and drag the Robot. The Robot size increases. You cannot decrease the size of the Robot smaller than the default size.

Tip: You can hide a component work area and view just the Robot by clicking

beside the component in the design tree. Click

to view the component again.

Moving Objects with the Robot

You can move a single or multiple objects at the same time using the Robot.

Drag the center of the Robot to move the object to a new location. The location of the object changes but the object's orientation remains the same.
Drag the U, V, or W axis of the Robot to move the object linearly in that direction. The object's orientation remains the same.

Note: Drag the axis handles on the scale bar to view and snap to the values. You can vary the linear values displayed on the scale bar by zooming in and out on the object.
Drag an arc on the Robot to rotate the object on that axis. The object is rotated around its center, but the location of the object does not change.
Drag the arc ruler out from the object to get finer value of degrees on the scale. Drag the scale toward the object to decrease the available divisions.
Note: Drag the arc handle on the scale bar to view and snap to the values.
Drag the dot at the end of the axis arrow to scale the object linearly along the axis (in some commands). Multiple dots can be selected. Dark dots appear at the ends of the three axis arrows, if two dark dots are selected (turning them to light dots), both axes are scaled. Select three dark dots and scale the complete object.

Note: Drag the dot on the scale bar to view and snap to the values.
Double-click a handle to flip the position of the Robot 180 degrees.
Drag the Robot to a plane, face, edge, or surface of another object to acquire the orientation of that object.
Multiple selections are supported when using the Robot. Shift + click or Crtl + click to select the multiple components in the design tree. One Robot appears in the common center of the work area which applies to all the selected components.
You can have more than one Robot displayed in the work area.
To move a fixed component, you first have to float it (right-click the component and select Float Component ).
Click and release the center of the Robot and drag it to move the Robot to a new location. The object does not move. The Robot appears transparent indicating the mode change. It is possible to detach the robot, adjust its position then re-attach and use the new position as anchor point.

Click the center of the Robot again to exit this mode.

Keyboard Functions with the Robot

You have additional Robot functions when using the keyboard.

Press Ctrl and drag the Robot to temporarily hide the Robot.
Press Alt and drag the center of Robot to maintain the Robot current orientation as it moves over surfaces and planes.
Press Shift and drag the Robot to zoom in on the Robot without changing the object's position.
While dragging a Robot axis, press and hold Shift, the ruler disappears and you can snap to geometries and objects points. This function is supported with both axis and planar dragging.
In View > Multi View the Robot is shown in the current active window. Press Shift and drag the Robot center to another Multi View pane without changing object's position.
Press Ctrl when selecting a Freeform object if you do not want to move the Robot view.

Robot Right Mouse Button Options

You can change the behavior of the Robot in the work area using options available when you right-click on the Robot.

Each time you close the Robot and access it again, Align To Selection is selected even if you previously used another right mouse button selection. You cannot save different settings as the default. The options available are described as follows:


Lock Orientation	When selected, the current orientation of the Robot is maintained. Once you use the Robot to manipulate the object, the orientation of the object stays and the Robot returns to orientation you locked.
Align To Selection	When selected, the orientation of the Robot matches the orientation of the object. This is the default setting.
Align to XYZ	When selected, the orientation of the Robot matches the XYZ coordinates as shown in the lower right-hand corner of the work area.
Align to Screen	When selected, the Robot is displayed in 2D where the W axis is always facing out of the display towards you.
Move Robot	Move Robot opens the Move Robot dialog box which allows you to manually enter numeric values for moving the Robot. The Move Robot dialog box is described in the following table.

The Move Robot dialog box displays the functions that are available in the active Robot. Scaling or axes might be missing from the dialog box when they are not available in the active Robot. If you have more than one Robot displayed in the work area, the Move Robot dialog box displays values from the last Robot that was active.


	Distance. Values entered in the distance text boxes indicate the linear change along the indicated axes.
	Angle. Values entered in the degree text boxes indicate the angular rotational about the indicated axes.
	Scale. Values entered in the scale text boxes indicate the factor the object is scaled by.
	U Axis. Enter values in the Distance and Angle text boxes to reposition the Robot along the U axis. Once the value change has been applied, the value in the text box returns to zero (0).
	V Axis. Enter values in the Distance and Angle text boxes to reposition the Robot along the V axis. Once the value change has been applied, the value in the text box returns to zero (0).
	W Axis. Enter values in the Distance and Angle text boxes to reposition the Robot along the W axis. Once the value change has been applied, the value in the text box returns to zero (0).
	S . The "S" icon is displayed when only uniform scaling is allowed, all three dot handles on the Robot work together. Enter a single value in the scale text box to scale the object uniformly.
	X Axis. Enter values in the text box to reposition the Robot in the global coordinates along the X axis.
	Y Axis. Enter values in the text box to reposition the Robot in the global coordinates along the Y axis.
	Z Axis. Enter values in the text box to reposition the Robot in the global coordinates along the Z axis.
Attached	When deselected, the Robot is detached from the object and you can drag it to a new location. The Robot appears transparent when detached.