Abstract: A hand-held controller wand including three angular rate measurement sensors is coupled to a computational device for translating roll, pitch, and yaw data into translation and rotation signals or commands that effect the movement of an external device's control point, which may be an end effector of a robot. A transformation matrix is continually updated from the angular rate information obtained from the hand-held controller. This matrix is used to update a direction vector. A value may be stored in the computation device corresponding to a predetermined speed of movement. A button or other convenient control allows the operator to control translational movement of the end effector or other controlled device in a direction defined by the orientation of the hand held controller at the predetermined speed, thus providing an intuitive control input for real-time direction and programming of movement.