How to set up remote execution of a KAREL program on a FANUC CRX-20

I wanted to be able to start a KAREL program in my CRX-20 without touching the tablet pendant. I wanted to use digital signals instead. In particular, I wanted to use UOP Input (UI) 6, labelled Start, to control the start of a KAREL program.

Although this seemed like a very simple and inoffensive task, it turned out to be very difficult to accomplish. Even FANUC technical support couldn’t help me with this. So in case somebody else is trying to do it, I hope this helps.

First, two important facts that are critical but that I couldn’t find elsewhere:

• You cannot start a KAREL program remotely. You can only start TP programs. So you need to make a TP program call the KAREL program you want to start. Morever, the KAREL program needs to have its variables initialized. You can do this by running the KAREL program manually a single time after turning on the robot controller.
• If you want to use OTHER as your program selection method (which is the easiest selection method to implement since it does not require to synchronize and time a bunch of digital signal), you have to unassign the PNS Strobe UI in the I/O UOP menu.

If you have already spend a lot of time on this, and are tired of reading the manual and robot forums, you can skip the following and just try the two things I described before. If you re trying to do this for the first time. Here is the complete list of steps that you need to configure in each of the menus.

In I/O UOP Configuration

In TP Menu -> I/O -> UOP, click on IN/OUT button to see the inputs, and the press Config to unassign PNS Strobe (UI 17).

In System Configuration:

In TP Menu -> SYSTEM -> Config:

7. Enable UI Signals: True

8. Start for CONTINUE only: False

42. Remote local setup: Remote (After setting this, programs cannot be started using the TP).

In Prog Select Mode:

In TP Menu -> SETUP, one must configure which program to start remotely when toggling UI 6. This is done in the Prog Select section. There, Program Select Mode, must be switched to OTHER. To select the TP program that needs to be started, one needs to click on DETAIL.

In order to run a KAREL program, the selected TP program must call the KAREL program.

System variables

The following system variables mut be set as:

$SHELL_WRK.$KAREL_UOP: True

$SHELL_WRK.$KAREL_IOUOP: True

$SHELL_WRK.$CUST_START: True

This is in TP Menu -> SYSTEM -> Variables.