PURPOSE: To easily instruct positions and attitude to a manipulator with seven degrees of freedom.

CONSTITUTION: A manipulator has seven joints. The shoulder part 11 of the manipulator is provided with three joints J1, J2, and J3 whose rotary axes cross at one point. An elbow part 13, which joints the upper arm part 12 and front arm part 14 connected to the shoulder part 11, is provided with a joint 4. A wrist part is provided with three joints J5, J6, and J7 whose rotary axes cross at one point. When a linear motion command to move the hand in parallel with each axis of a rectangular coordinate system or a rotation command to each axis is input from an instruction operation panel 3, the position and attitude of the handle are changed without changing the rotation angle of the elbow part 13(Os-Ow). When a command to rotate the elbow is input, only the rotation angle of the elbow part without changing the position and attitude of the hand (self motion). By these commands, positions and attitude are instructed to the manipulator.