Robotics, automation and vision systems: Faster development is achieved by software

摘要

Product marketing manager, automation at Omron Electronics Karl Walker discusses why the speed and costs of developing software for any new machine build is an increasingly important factor in today's manufacturing environment. Back in the early 1970's when PLCs first became accepted as the way to automate a machine or process, very few users would have considered the cost of developing the 'logic control' software as part of the overall machine cost. In fact, it is estimated that in 1970, the cost of the man hours to write the machine control code accounted for just 1 -2% of the overall cost of any system or process.