Abstract: To solve the complex design problem of control program of robots in different applications, the state transition method is proposed. According to the FSM theory and the working state that changes with robot action, three examples of program design were given for state transition, i.e., the sorting manipulator of a semiautomatic X-ray crystal axial angle sorter, the robot as an simple intelligent car and the multiple manipulators to coordinate jobs. The results demonstrated that the state transition method is feasible and valid to robot program design and available to simplify the design of some robot control programs.