What are PLC Panel View and HMI Interfaces for Robots?

The stan­dard sys­tem for automation

A human-machine inter­face (HMI) con­nects to a sep­a­rate pro­gram­ma­ble log­ic con­troller (PLC). These sys­tems have been in place for decades among the indus­tri­al automa­tion com­mu­ni­ty. They help the user keep track of their robot sys­tem with a PLC pan­el view or HMI inter­face. These oper­a­tor devices are designed to mon­i­tor and con­trol the sys­tem. Oper­a­tors can tell the sys­tem’s sta­tus, adjust appli­ca­tion para­me­ters, and input and out­put posi­tions, or run mas­ter programs.

Pro­gram­ma­ble Log­ic Con­troller (PLC)

PLCs are small dig­i­tal com­put­ers that con­trol input and out­put posi­tions to make sure every com­po­nent in the robot sys­tem such as periph­er­als, robot, turntable, etc., work togeth­er in harmony. 

Human-machine inter­face (HMI)

An HMI is the con­troller oper­at­ing pan­el that con­sists of a numer­ic key­pad to input data and a con­trol screen. HMI oper­a­tor con­trol sta­tions are used for pro­gram­ming and data gath­er­ing. HMI inter­faces allow com­pa­nies to run mas­ter pro­grams and con­trol input/​output positions. 

Tech­nol­o­gy is rapid­ly advanc­ing and more com­bined HMI/PLC units, with an all-in-one touch­screen and log­ic con­troller, are being used. 

The com­bi­na­tion of a PLC and HMI sys­tem is becom­ing more pop­u­lar and read­i­ly avail­able as hard­ware and soft­ware tech­nol­o­gy con­tin­ues to rapid­ly advance. All of the com­po­nents of the con­trol sys­tem are rapid­ly evolv­ing to the point of greater func­tion­al­i­ty where a com­bined device is a com­pelling alternative.

Ben­e­fits of a com­bined system

HMI-PLC com­bined tech­nol­o­gy is becom­ing a more pop­u­lar alter­na­tive as it is low­er in cost, caus­ing the reduc­tion of equip­ment, while also eas­ing sys­tem func­tion­al­i­ty. The intel­li­gence of tech­nol­o­gy is sky­rock­et­ing at expo­nen­tial rates which is enabling indus­tri­al net­work­ing mechan­ics to inter­face at a more advanced and remote lev­el. In addi­tion, the com­bined units take up less space, min­i­mize wiring, uti­lize a sin­gle pow­er source, and only require one net­work connection. 

Ben­e­fits of a sep­a­rate system

Right now, sep­a­rate sys­tems do allow the selec­tion of a broad­er range of proces­sors and enhanced mem­o­ry capac­i­ties. This sep­a­rate sys­tem is also avail­able for safe­ty appli­ca­tions. Addi­tion­al­ly, the motion con­trol and com­mu­ni­ca­tions are more exten­sive than a com­bined unit. The I/O count and Ana­log I/O are also more abundant. 

Con­tact Robots​.com

Regard­less of the sys­tem you choose for your automa­tion inte­gra­tion, all of the com­po­nents (whether com­bined or sep­a­rate) are built to last and work excep­tion­al­ly well togeth­er. Robots​.com will help you find the right PLC and/​or HMI inter­face to sup­port your robot sys­tem. Con­tact our experts for more details at 877−762−6881 or sub­mit our con­tact form.