  The Robo-AO Kepler Planetary Candidate Survey is designed to observe every
Kepler planet candidate host star with laser adaptive optics imaging to search
for blended nearby stars, which may be physically associated companions and/or
responsible for transit false positives. In this paper we present the results
from the 2012 observing season, searching for stars close to 715 representative
Kepler planet candidate hosts. We find 53 companions, 44 of which are new
discoveries. We detail the Robo-AO survey data reduction methods including a
method of using the large ensemble of target observations as mutual
point-spread-function references, along with a new automated
companion-detection algorithm designed for large adaptive optics surveys. Our
survey is sensitive to objects from 0.15" to 2.5" separation, with contrast
ratios up to delta-m~6. We measure an overall nearby-star-probability for
Kepler planet candidates of 7.4% +/- 1.0%, and calculate the effects of each
detected nearby star on the Kepler-measured planetary radius. We discuss
several KOIs of particular interest, including KOI-191 and KOI-1151, which are
both multi-planet systems with detected stellar companions whose unusual
planetary system architecture might be best explained if they are "coincident
multiple" systems, with several transiting planets shared between the two
stars. Finally, we detect 2.6-sigma evidence for <15d-period giant planets
being 2-3 times more likely be found in wide stellar binaries than smaller
close-in planets and all sizes of further-out planets.
