I don't have a quick answer for #1, but for #2 look into creating a driven key (set driven key) from a custom attribute (e.g. gripperCtrl). For #3 you could create a point constraint (with maintain offset on) from number 1 to number 2 and another point constraint from number to your robot. Hope that gets you in the right direction. Thank you for your reply! Okay, I'm not familiar with the set driven key. But I will look into that. I opend up Maya for the first time last week, so I have very much to learn. I'm very thanlful the any help I can get. I did try Your method with the point constraint, but if I move "number 2" in the X axis, and then move "number 1" in the Z axis, "number 2" just snaps back to it's 0 position. How do I get around that?