Method for moving a reference, in particular an end effector, of a robot that is fixed to the robot, in particular a multiaxis robot arm, on the basis of a number, in particular sequence, of predefined discrete permissible poses ( x d,i-2, x d,i-1, x d,i, x d,i+1, x d,i+2) of the reference, having the, in particular multiply repeated, step of: - exerting drive forces on the robot by way of the drives thereof to move the reference to follow a manual guidance force, exerted on the robot, on the basis of a difference between a current pose ( x ( t)) of the reference and a first pose (x near), nearest thereto, from the permissible poses in such a way that the drive forces respond to a deviation between the current pose and the first pose by producing a return force on the reference that is dependent on the difference, wherein the return force corresponds to a restoring force from the current pose to the first pose that is dependent on the difference, the component of said restoring force in the direction of a connection between the first pose and a second pose, adjacent thereto, from the permissible poses being masked out, with the result that the component of a total force produced on the reference by the drive forces in the direction of the connection is independent of the difference, characterized in that the drives are controlled by means of operational space control, the restoring force f c together with a damping force being mapped during an operational space control to corresponding drive forces or drive force components according to T c = J T Λ x. f c + μ x, d x / dt + p x + N. M. k d ⋅ d q / dt + c + g, where q denotes coordinates or (angular) positions of the robot axes of rotation, M is the mass matrix in axis space, c are speed- and optionally position-dependent forces, g are purely position-dependent forces, k d ≤0 is the damping, N = 1 - J T ·(J #) T is the null space projector, Λ = ( J · M -1 · J T) -1 is the mass matrix in operational space, μ = ( J #) T · c - Λ ·d J /dt·d q /dt and p = ( J #) T · g, J # = M -1 · J T · Λ, and J is the Jacobi matrix, the masking-out of the component in the direction of the connection between the first pose and the adjacent second pose being implemented by way of zero assignment or deletion of the applicable rows of the applicable Jacobi matrices or poses. - exerting drive forces on the robot by way of the drives thereof to move the reference to follow a manual guidance force, exerted on the robot, on the basis of a difference between a current pose ( x ( t)) of the reference and a first pose (x near), nearest thereto, from the permissible poses in such a way that the drive forces respond to a deviation between the current pose and the first pose by producing a return force on the reference that is dependent on the difference, the return force corresponds to a restoring force from the current pose to the first pose that is dependent on the difference, the component of said restoring force in the direction of a connection between the first pose and a second pose, adjacent thereto, from the permissible poses being masked out, with the result that the component of a total force produced on the reference by the drive forces in the direction of the connection is independent of the difference, characterized in that the drives are controlled by means of operational space control, the restoring force f c together with a damping force being mapped during an operational space control to corresponding drive forces or drive force components according to T c = J T Λ x. f c + μ x, d x / dt + p x + N. M. k d ⋅ d q / dt + c + g, where q denotes coordinates or (angular) positions of the robot axes of rotation, M is the mass matrix in axis space, c are speed- and optionally position-dependent forces, g are purely position-dependent forces, k d ≤0 is the damping, N = 1 - J T ·(J #) T is the null space projector, Λ = ( J · M -1 · J T) -1 is the mass matrix in operational space, μ = ( J #) T · c - Λ ·d J /dt·d q /dt and p = ( J #) T · g, J # = M -1 · J T · Λ, and J is the Jacobi matrix, the masking-out of the component in the direction of the connection between the first pose and the adjacent second pose being implemented by way of zero assignment or deletion of the applicable rows of the applicable Jacobi matrices or poses.