Electronic multifunctional controllers and input devices for manipulation and controlling the movement of machines, in particular of robots and other multi-axis machines, and for manipulation and controlling software applications such as CAD software applications; sensor units comprising electronic sensors for detecting forces and moments of up to six degrees of freedom from an electronically controlled appliance or robot; computer peripherals, namely, motion controller devices in the nature of a manually controlled appliance used to pan, zoom and rotate designs and models in virtual space and execute application commands; manual input devices in the nature of a computer mouse, computer joystick and an electric control panel for controlling machines, robots and computers for use in the fields of 2D/3D graphics animation, CAD/CAM, content creation, flight simulation, flow analysis, digital animation for film, video editing, stereo plotting and office productivity, medicine, web navigation, gaming and content creation and computer software for controlling the same