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How Do You Stack Up? A Look Into Robotic Palletizing

How Do You Stack Up? A Look Into Robotic Palletizing

Explore the art of automated palletizing and the different ways you can accelerate the packaging process using PLC and robotic controls.


Managing and Configuring Switches for Secure SCADA Networks | Part 2

Managing and Configuring Switches for Secure SCADA Networks | Part 2

Learn about OT resilience strategies, including SSH, authentication, port blocking, and MAC address binding, methods that can be employed to protect network switches.


Advantages of Remote I/O Devices With Networking Technologies

Advantages of Remote I/O Devices With Networking Technologies

Networked remote I/O allows machine centers to operate while physically separated from the rest of the system, and often, the solution can drop right into place.


The Rise of AI-Powered Humanoid Robots in Industry

The Rise of AI-Powered Humanoid Robots in Industry

Learn how AI, machine vision, and sensor breakthroughs are driving humanoid robots from sci-fi dreams to industrial realities.


Questions for the Experts: Industrial Firewalls

Questions for the Experts: Industrial Firewalls

I had some questions about firewalls for industrial networks, topics like selecting, configuring, and updating the software, so I turned to some experts for a little advice.


Factory I/O: A Modern PLC Simulation Tool to Learn the Fundamentals

Factory I/O: A Modern PLC Simulation Tool to Learn the Fundamentals

Finding a good PLC simulator can be challenging. Read an assessment of Factory I/O and learn how it works, how to get started, and how to use it in your automation learning journey.


Connecting Motion to a PLC: A Complete Project

Connecting Motion to a PLC: A Complete Project

In this article, we’ll connect a Festo CMMT to a Rockwell CompactLogix PLC, and as a bonus, we’ll add an HMI to provide some basic on/off and positional targeting controls.


Motion Control Tutorial: Setting up a Linear Axis

Motion Control Tutorial: Setting up a Linear Axis

Learn how to configure a single motion axis using Festo’s Automation Suite, a servo motor drive, and a simple electric linear slide assembly.


Remote Industry and the Growing Popularity of Cellular Systems

Remote Industry and the Growing Popularity of Cellular Systems

Previously reserved for personal and commercial deployments, learn how cellular IoT connectivity technologies are influencing industrial trends, organizations, and integrators.


Avoiding SCADA Pitfalls: 3 Tips for Operational and Business Advantages

Avoiding SCADA Pitfalls: 3 Tips for Operational and Business Advantages

A well-designed SCADA system can reduce costs, increase throughput, and improve usability. Successful implementation requires consideration from both an operational and a business perspective.


Installing and Using Modern Industrial Joystick Controls

Installing and Using Modern Industrial Joystick Controls

Discover how digital and analog industrial joysticks can provide crucial precision in sectors like manufacturing and industrial automation, used mainly for motion control applications.


Analog and Digital Signal Filtering in PLC Systems

Analog and Digital Signal Filtering in PLC Systems

Unexpected, false, and fluctuating PLC input signals can cost many hours of debugging, but luckily, there are some quick, simple tricks to try before downtime is wasted.


PID Visualized: Watch Proportional, Integral, and Derivative in Motion

PID Visualized: Watch Proportional, Integral, and Derivative in Motion

Watch how each of the P and I terms influence the output of a motion control system. How do we explain and prevent terms like overshoot, error, and long settling time?


Tricks of the Trade: Troubleshooting Industrial Control Cabinets

Tricks of the Trade: Troubleshooting Industrial Control Cabinets

When the blinking lights on automation devices stop blinking, the control cabinet is often the go-to troubleshooting culprit, but how do you make the best judgments for quickly locating the problem?


Commissioning IO-Link Part 2: Tutorial PLC Project

Commissioning IO-Link Part 2: Tutorial PLC Project

After we explored the initial configuration, it’s now time to see exactly how to implement IO-Link in a simple PLC project, explaining how to interpret process data bytes for input and output.


Hands-On with the Arduino Opta Using OpenPLC

Hands-On with the Arduino Opta Using OpenPLC

Using an Arduino Opta PLC, a few off-the-shelf electrical components, and the popular OpenPLC software environment, automation control concepts can be built on your own test bench.


Commissioning IO-Link Part 1: System Configuration

Commissioning IO-Link Part 1: System Configuration

IO-Link devices can be inputs or outputs, and often a mix of both. In this article, learn how to interpret datasheets that list the indexes and purpose of the bytes to read and write process data.


What Do Light-on and Dark-on Mean for Photoelectric Sensors?

What Do Light-on and Dark-on Mean for Photoelectric Sensors?

Industrial sensor applications face challenges of digital or analog, NPN or PNP, normally closed and normally open, but for optical sensors, the terms “light-on” and “dark-on” must also be understood.


Remote Networking: Explaining VPNs for Control Engineers

Remote Networking: Explaining VPNs for Control Engineers

It can be risky to adopt unknown technology; it poses serious security concerns if misused. The Control.com engineering team contacted our friends at OnLogic to gain some insight into VPN technology.


The Dirty Details of Electrical Power: Line/Load Reactors and Filters

The Dirty Details of Electrical Power: Line/Load Reactors and Filters

Filters and reactors can protect your electrical devices, but what is the difference between these two kinds of devices, and are they supposed to be installed before or after a VFD?