Arduino brings PLC functionality to its IDE
There have been several occasions where I have been in the presence of electrical engineers, discussing the proliferation of Arduino in the maker community and soliciting their input. Often the conversation revolves around the divide between makers who tinker at home and engineers who work with PLC systems.
For those unfamiliar with automata, I'll keep this as short and simple as possible. These are more industrial systems that you would find from a manufacturer running large equipment. You usually won't find an Arduino Leonardo sitting in a box with a protoboard and a bunch of wires. They use different programming methods, and there's a bit of a distance between learning one and learning the other.
Arduino closes that chasm a bit with this latest announcement.
…we have just launched a dedicated Arduino API IDE, which supports the five languages defined by the IEC 61131-3 standard: Ladder Diagram, Functional Block Diagram, Structured Text, Sequential Function Chart and Instruction List.
Download the PLC IDE and use it to combine PLC programming with Arduino sketch programming - even taking advantage of the pre-installed libraries - to get your Portenta Machine Control up and running in no time, bringing deterministic cyclic tasks and Multitask your software applications with no-code built-in fieldbus configurators that allow you to manage CanOpen, Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP communication. Spoiler alert: in the near future the Arduino Opta will also be available!Granted, most makers in their workshop aren't going to exploit this. However, for those well on their way to becoming an electrical engineer, it can end up being a stepping stone between the two worlds.
There have been several occasions where I have been in the presence of electrical engineers, discussing the proliferation of Arduino in the maker community and soliciting their input. Often the conversation revolves around the divide between makers who tinker at home and engineers who work with PLC systems.
For those unfamiliar with automata, I'll keep this as short and simple as possible. These are more industrial systems that you would find from a manufacturer running large equipment. You usually won't find an Arduino Leonardo sitting in a box with a protoboard and a bunch of wires. They use different programming methods, and there's a bit of a distance between learning one and learning the other.
Arduino closes that chasm a bit with this latest announcement.
…we have just launched a dedicated Arduino API IDE, which supports the five languages defined by the IEC 61131-3 standard: Ladder Diagram, Functional Block Diagram, Structured Text, Sequential Function Chart and Instruction List.
Download the PLC IDE and use it to combine PLC programming with Arduino sketch programming - even taking advantage of the pre-installed libraries - to get your Portenta Machine Control up and running in no time, bringing deterministic cyclic tasks and Multitask your software applications with no-code built-in fieldbus configurators that allow you to manage CanOpen, Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP communication. Spoiler alert: in the near future the Arduino Opta will also be available!Granted, most makers in their workshop aren't going to exploit this. However, for those well on their way to becoming an electrical engineer, it can end up being a stepping stone between the two worlds.
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