A system for communicating with a motion control device capable of executing at least one motion command, comprising: a set of motion commands, where the set of motion commands comprises primitive motion commands and non-primitive motion commands, wherein functionality of the non-primitive motion commands can be emulated by a combination of primitive motion commands, and functionality of the primitive motion commands cannot be emulated by a combination of primitive motion commands; a set of motion operations, where at least one motion operation is associated with at least one motion command; a set of selectable software modules, where at least one software module is associated with at least one motion control device, and at least two selectable software modules expose a common software interface; and a software system that commands at least one motion control device to perform at least one motion operation based on at least one motion command using the common software interface exposed by at least one selected software module associated with at least one motion control device.