Flexibility plays a critical role in the cost-efficiency and application effectiveness of a robotic system. Without adequate flexibility, a manufacturer can get caught in an expensive and frustrating cycle of modifying and reprogramming systems in the field as application requirements evolve and change. Texas-based C&D Machine and Engineering Co. found a way to break that cycle through the use of the modular, microprocessor-based Motion Plus controller from MTS Systems Corporation. The Motion Plus system added the necessary flexibility and easy programmibility to C&D's System II material handling robot, so that customers could program the Cartesian coordinate, three and four axis gantry-style system themselves according to their changing needs.