A cost-effective approach for the development of an integrated PC-PLC-robot system for industrial engineering education

Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) instruction is and is likely to remain an important component of the industrial engineering education curriculum. As new manufacturing technologies become available and as existing manufacturing technologies become more integrated, industrial engineering departments must continuously develop their laboratory resources in order to provide their students with effective instruction. While financially limited departments cannot acquire state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, they can provide improved hands-on AMT integration instruction without major capital investment. By developing an interface box between existing LabVolt PLC trainers and Microbot TeachMover robots, the industrial engineering department at a major Northeastern US university was able to provide its students with improved AMT integration instruction.