'Connects to a remote server at ``uri``.
Optional ``timeout`` can be used to specify a timeout to wait when
initially connecting to the server and if a connection accidentally
closes. Timeout can be given as seconds (e.g. ``60``) or using
Robot Framework time format (e.g. ``60s``, ``2 minutes 10 seconds``).
The default timeout is typically several minutes, but it depends on
the operating system and its configuration. Notice that setting
a timeout that is shorter than keyword execution time will interrupt
the keyword.
Support for timeouts is a new feature in Robot Framework 2.8.6.
Timeouts do not work with IronPython.'

def __init__(self, uri='http://127.0.0.1:8270', timeout=None):

    if ('://' not in uri):
        uri = ('http://' + uri)
    if timeout:
        timeout = timestr_to_secs(timeout)
    self._uri = uri
    self._client = XmlRpcRemoteClient(uri, timeout)
