The Training Factory Industry 4.0 24V is controlled by a PLC (brand independent, not included in the scope of delivery) and comes with a ready-made sample program (as Structured Text, ST). The sample program is based on a Siemens S7-1500 (details at www.fischertechnik.de/simulation). The newly developed 24V adapter boards as interface to the PLC are available in the Training Factory Industry 4.0 pre-assembled, and are connected to the PLC via terminals. Among other things, this latest generation of adapter boards allows
• the encoder motors to be controlled in speed via PWM
• the use of push/pull output stages for phototransistors and buttons
A fischertechnik TXT controller is also installed in the Training Factory Industry 4.0 24V. This is supplied with power via the adapter board and provides the connection to the fischertechnik cloud. The TXT Controller also communicates in MQTT to the IoT gateway (Raspberry Pi) which in turn translates in OPC-UA to the PLC controller. This also allows the 9V based components on this model—such as the environmental sensor, the USB camera, the brightness sensor, and the NFC reader-- to communicate via the MQTT interface and read out from the PLC Another interesting feature--which is another function of the IoT gateway--is the possibility of an optional connection to a separate cloud. As such, Training Factory Industry 4.0 offers maximum flexibility for the end user.