How to Create Fanuc HMI Panels Using the Panel Wizard

Even though you want Fanuc robots to be as autonomous as possible, you sometimes need operators to interact with your robots and need a simple interface for that. Using third party HMIs to communicate with Fanuc Robots is certainly an option, but there is a bunch of setup needed, and accessing all the variables on the robot is difficult. Instead, you can create the interface using the built-in "Panel Wizard" to create up to four different operator screens.

This blog will show you how to create new panels in the Panel Wizard, then customize them with a variety of features and control options, including switches, buttons, and visual indicators.

To start, navigate through the Menu to [8] Browser-> [3]Panel Wizard.

Note: If you do not have the Panel Wizard Menu, you might need to add Fanuc's "Internet Connectivity Option R558" to your robot. 

Next, select which panel you want to customize. You might also have the option to modify an existing panel, or create a new panel. I will be creating a new panel.

After selecting the panel, choose how many rows and columns this panel will have. You're limited to a maximum of 20 rows and 8 columns, but I would suggest using additional panels before reaching the limit. I picked 3 rows and 4 columns.

Now you get to pick from an assortment of controls to add to the panel.

Below is more information for each control.

Fanuc Panel Wizard Controls

Control Name	Example	What it's good for	Customizations
Fast Label		Quickly adding text to a panel	Appearance: Caption, Font, Size, Style, Width, and Height
Fast Lamp		Quickly adding a visual status indicator	Data Data Type Data Index View Type + Image source +True/False images
Fast Switch		Quickly adding a way for users to toggle boolean values	Data Data Type Data Index View Type + Image source +True/False images
Button Change		Adding a way for users to switch to a different panel or URL	Page name or URL View type (Normal, Image, F#) Image source True image False image Color Background color Foreground color Appearance: Caption, Font, Style, Width, and Height Style: Border, HAlign and VAlign
Command Button		Adding a way for users to set a variable value on button press	Data Data Type Data Index Data Type and value on button push View Type Color Background color Foreground color Appearance: Caption, Font, Style, Width, and Height Style: Border, HAlign and VAlign
Edit Box		Letting users change a variable value within limited values	Data Data Type Data Index Input data type allowed, min and max input allowed Color Background color Foreground color Appearance: Caption, Font, Style, Width, and Height Style: Border, HAlign and VAlign
Label		Displaying variable information	Data Data Type Data Index Appearance: Caption, Font, Style, Width, and Height Style: Border, HAlign and VAlign Color Background color Foreground color
Toggle Button		Toggling between two values (can be logic or numeric) and displaying a caption for each value. You can also toggle appearance changes if the value type is logic	Data Data Type Data Index Control Values False value, True Value False and True Captions Viewtype and images Viewtype: Button/Checkbox/F#/Circle True image, False Image Appearance: Caption, Font, Style, Width, and Height Style: Border, HAlign and VAlign
Toggle Lamp		Toggling a visual indicator based on a logical value, or a threshold value	Data Data Type Data Index Type and control condition >, >=, <, <=, =, != Comparison value Viewtype and image of control for true and false cases Color True/False background color Foreground color Appearance: Caption, Font, Style, Width, and Height Style: Border, HAlign and VAlign

After you have customized the control you want, select the row/column location and then repeat the process for any additional controls you want to customize. When done, press "Finish".

When you're finished, the new panel can be accessed via the Browser menu option: [8] Browser-> [#]Panel.

You can access the panel like this, or press the Menu button, and then press and hold on square to add your panel to the Menu Favorites.

If you want to change your panel title from "Panel 1/2/3/4" to a better title, you can edit the panel, and select "Modify Page".

You can also change the panel background color and font. I would recommend laying out a basic panel design on paper before creating the panel so it doesn't end up looking like a demo page created for a blog.

A demo page created for a blog

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