Virtuabotix Poised To Revolutionize Industrial Controls, But Is Commercial Enterprise Ready For Open Source?

Virtuabotix has launched the ARDBOX PLC system, and is working with Industrial Controls to make Arduino based Open Source Hardware available. Open Source Hardware could completely revolutionize the industry, but will the technology be adopted in time to reap the benefits?

The Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is at the heart of almost every industrial manufacturing and testing process in the United States and across the world. Now for the first time, in an industry that has been largely dominated by proprietary solutions, an Arduino based Open Source PLC (the ARDBOX PLC) is available from Virtuabotix.com. The PLC has helped to shape the modern world, and is used to produce finished goods for consumers and businesses alike, but it has always taken a fair amount of time and work to get a qualified PLC operator off the ground.

"Our engineers are convinced that well designed projects based on Arduino are comparable to any other system even in industrial environments." Ramon Boncompte, of Industrial Shields.

Up until now, Industrial Control units and PLC controllers have only been available from a handful of manufacturers, and have classically relied exclusively on proprietary coding languages developed specifically for the controllers in question. This means that in order to bring up a Manufacturing or Test Engineer in a factory, one must first put them through training on all of the PLC languages specific to a factories hardware. This adds a significant training cost to operational overhead, and makes it difficult to hire a decent candidate when none of them has had explicit PLC experience.

In contrast, using Open Source Hardware like the Industrial Controls ARDBOX PLC from Virtuabotix, a hiring manager can actually give a basic C++ test, or ask that the applicant perform some basic Arduino programming tasks to see if they are in fact proficient enough to perform the required duties for their position. This makes it possible to take advantage of the increasing number of graduates who are coming into the workforce already familiarized with some form of Arduino or similar Open Source Hardware.

"From consulting with many operators, and engineers it has grown evident that there is an increasing need for businesses to leverage open source hardware in industrial settings." - Joseph Dattilo, Founder Virtuabotix LLC

That said, like most fields that have been around for a while, the Industrial Controls Industry may resist adapting to the new technology. However, those that adapt to new technology stand to capitalize on the increased population of the workforce with Open Source experience, and all of the benefits that come from using a collaborative adaptive technology to solve everyday control problems.