a) a support system;

b) an end effector movable relatively to the support system by the coordinated joint motion system;

c) multiple links to link the end effector to the support system;

d) multiple joints connecting the multiple links one to another, to the support system and to the end effector, each joint permitting relative movement between two adjacent ones of the members connected together by the respective joint;

e) multiple actuators to effect said relative movement between the connected members, the multiple actuators being controlled by the coordinated joint control system; and

f) an operator interface comprising at least one manually movable control member to input human operator-provided control signals to the control system; wherein the coordinated joint control system comprises:

i) a menu of virtual kinematics configurations selectable through the operator interface, each virtual kinematics configuration comprising a family of trajectory paths of the end effector, each trajectory path being configured in at least two dimensions;

ii) a model-based forward predictor to provide velocity components for operation of the coordinated joints to move the end effector according to a selected virtual trajectory family in differential form;

iii) control connections between the operator interface and the model-based forward predictor to modify the coordinated joint velocity components of the virtual machine according to operator input; and

iv) a differential control kinematics generator to generate a position-dependent differential inverse kinematics model of the coordinated joint motion system and to distribute to the multiple joint actuators coordinated control signals comprising the modified coordinated joint velocity components provided by the model-based forward predictor.