Method for operating an industrial robot

The invention relates to a method for operating an industrial robot (12) by means of an operating device (10), comprising the method step of touching a virtual operating element on a touch-sensitive display (20) of a graphical user interface (18), said display being surrounded by a frame (34), wherein a function associated with the operating element is triggered when the virtual operating element is touched. In order to increase the safety of the operation of the industrial robot and to be able to adjust the position of the industrial robot in the desired range, the speed or distance of a deflection of a finger of an operating person during the touching of the virtual operating element of the touch display (20) is detected, said virtual operating element being designed as a defined travel surface, a control signal is generated from the speed or the distance of the deflection, which control signal is used for the speed specification or position specification for motions of the industrial robot (12), and a first travel surface for two-dimensional position specification is defined at a distance from a frame section (36) used as a haptic mark and a second travel surface for a third position specification of the industrial robot is defined within the distance.