PC Developer’s Kit
Basic Description
FANUC Robotics PC Developer’s
Kit is a powerful tool that enables
high performance communication
of information and instructions
between a PC and FANUC
controller.
The kit is both a development and
run-time environment that gets
the MS Windows™ application
running quickly. Visual Basic
programming expertise is required
to develop application packages
over PC Developer’s Kit.
Features
■ Robot Server
■ Robot Neighborhood
■ FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
for file access
■ Visual Basic Integrated
Development Environment
■ Visual Basic Programming
■ Online documentation
■ Source files for example
programs that use all
Robot Server features
Robot Server
The heart of the PC Developer’s
Kit is the Robot Server. It knows
how to access the information
needed from the robot controller
and makes the controller
follow the instructions.
The Robot Server works with
Visual Basic 6.0 and VB.Net
code through an object oriented
interface. When using an object’s
property, method or event, the
object handles the details of
getting that action accomplished
on the robot in the most efficient
way.
Programming with objects is
fundamental to Visual Basic.
Visual Basic’s rapid prototyping
and powerful development
environment and Robot Server
objects virtually ensure the
success of the application.
Here is a partial list of the
actions the application can do
through the Robot Server:
■ Read/write variables –
this includes user defined
structures, arrays and path
nodes along with the “simple”
system and KAREL® variables.
■ Read/write numeric
registers – these are the
variables of TPP programs.
■ Test or set I/O – all types
(e.g. DI, DO, AI, AO, GI, GO,
SI, SO, UI, UO, etc.) of I/O
supported by the controller
can be accessed.
■ Configure I/O – allows user
to configure controller I/O.
■ Run programs – users can run
a robot program from the PC.
■ Check program status –
determine which program is
running, aborted or paused.
■ Load/save programs – users
can load a program to controller
memory and save it to the PC.
■ Read/write positions –
positions can be converted
and presented in joint, cartesian
or matrix representations.
This includes KAREL positions,
TPP positions, position
registers, the current robot
position, user frame, tool
frame, jog frame and positions
in system variables.
■ Monitor alarms – the entire
alarm log is made available and
updated as new alarms occur.
■ Coordinate with the robot
program – TPP and KAREL
programs can generate events
to which the Visual Basic
code responds.
■ Monitor variables, I/O,
program status – display
and update robot information
on the PC screen through
event handler.
Robot Neighborhood

The Robot Neighborhood controls

and monitors connections between
the robot server and the controller.
It offers the following features:
■ Connection sharing between
multiple applications
■ A directory of available robots
and their current status
■ Disconnect detection and
automatic reconnect
■ Robot Server keep-alive
■ Access and control to both real
and virtual controllers

FTP

PC Developer’s Kit relies on the

industry standard FTP protocol to
enable the application to list, read,
write and delete files on the
controller.
Integrated with Visual
Basic’s Integrated
Development
Environment
PC Developer’s Kit takes full
advantage of Visual Basic’s
Integrated Development
Environment (VB-IDE). Here’s
how it fits into the extensive
features of the VB-IDE:
■ Context sensitive help – press
F1 while the cursor is on any
of the Robot Server object
components and read more
about it.
■ Statement builder – Visual
Basic knows about the Robot
Server’s object interface to
anticipate the next keystroke
and give the argument list
for available robot object
property or method.
■ Object browser – all the robot
server’s object interfaces are
shown; Use F1 for context
sensitive help.
Visual Basic
Programming
Visual Basic programming
is needed to access robot
information.
See the following example application PC Requirements
to get an idea of what it takes to
access robot information at the PC. ■ Windows® 2000 XP
The above example program ■ AMD Athlon™ 64 or Pentium® 4
presents an updated display of the
■ 256 MB RAM
most recent alarm on any robot on
the network. Just enter the robot’s ■ 10 Base T Ethernet network
network name in the box below and interface
press connect. It has full error ■ 10 MB free disk space
handling and many of the lines ■ CD ROM drive
were automatically generated.
■ Visual Basic 6.0
Controller Requirements
■ R-J3 and later controllers
■ PC Interface Option
FANUC Robotics America, Inc. Charlotte, NC Toronto, Canada
3900 W. Hamlin Road (704) 596-5121 (905) 812-2300
Rochester Hills, MI 48309-3253
(248) 377-7000 Chicago, IL Montréal, Canada
Fax (248) 377-7362 (847) 898-6000 (450) 492-9001
For sales or technical information, call: Cincinnati, OH Aguascalientes, Mexico
1-800-47-ROBOT (513) 754-2400 52 (449) 922-8000
Los Angeles, CA Sao Paulo, Brazil
(949) 595-2700 (55) (11) 3619-0599
marketing@fanucrobotics.com Toledo, OH
www.fanucrobotics.com (419) 866-0788
©2006 FANUC Robotics America, Inc. All rights reserved. FANUC ROBOTICS LITHO IN U.S.A. FRA-4/06