A methodology is developed to integrate a sixdimensional force/torque sensor into a robot programming and control system. It consists of : [1] a formalism for specifying compliant motion tasks, based on orthogonal task frames with force, velocity, and tracking directions, and provided with tools to model the task kinematics; [2] a strategy for the task execution which makes use of external control loops closed around the robot positioning system. Several experiments show the applicability of the methodology.