ROB107 · Industrial Automation and Collaborative Robots
About Course
Understand and design industrial automation cells: PLC control and ladder logic, industrial sensors and networks, robot and cobot programming and integration, cycle time and OEE, and the safety principles that make people and robots work side by side.
Who it is for
Learners who want to plan, evaluate or program automation for small manufacturing, packaging or logistics operations.
Prerequisites
ROB104 (kinematics); ROB103 programming experience; no industrial hardware needed.
What you will be able to do
- Write and simulate PLC ladder logic with start, stop and emergency-stop interlocks for a conveyor cell.
- Program a simulated robot arm pick-and-place sequence coordinated with conveyor signals.
- Calculate cycle time and OEE and identify the bottleneck of a robot cell.
- Apply risk assessment and collaborative-operation modes to specify safety measures for a cobot application.
Lessons
- Lesson 1 · PLCs, ladder logic and industrial networks
- Lesson 2 · Industrial robots, cobots and cell integration
- Lesson 3 · Safety and collaborative operation
- Lesson 4 · Lab and assignment
Lab: A PLC-controlled conveyor with a robot pick-and-place cell
You write ladder logic in OpenPLC for a conveyor with start, stop, emergency-stop and part-present sensors and test it in simulation mode. In Webots, you program a UR5e arm to pick cans from a conveyor and place them in a crate, using a handshake sequence (part ready, robot busy, done) that mirrors how a PLC and robot coordinate in a real cell.
Free tools: OpenPLC Editor and OpenPLC Runtime (free, open source), Webots (free) with the Universal Robots UR5e sample world
Assessed assignment
Submit your OpenPLC project, ladder screenshots and test table, the Webots controller and your cycle-time measurements. Draw a sequence diagram of the PLC–robot handshake. Calculate OEE for a scenario of your choice with stated availability, performance and quality figures and propose one improvement to the bottleneck. Write a one-page safety concept for running this cell as a collaborative application next to an operator: hazards, chosen collaborative mode, safeguards and residual risks.
| Criterion | Weight | What excellent work looks like |
|---|---|---|
| PLC logic | 25% | Ladder logic is correct, includes seal-in, normally closed E-stop and timer fault, and is verified with a test table. |
| Robot sequence and handshake | 25% | The arm completes pick-and-place reliably as a clear state machine coordinated with the handshake signals. |
| Performance analysis | 25% | Cycle time is measured, OEE is calculated correctly and the bottleneck improvement is realistic. |
| Safety concept | 25% | Hazards, collaborative mode, safeguards and residual risks are identified with reference to risk-assessment practice. |
Portfolio piece
A simulated automation cell (PLC program, robot controller, OEE analysis and safety concept) that demonstrates industrial-automation design skills.
Next step
Continue with ROB108 · AI for Intelligent Robots · 8 hours · $56.00
Course Content
ROB107 · Industrial Automation and Collaborative Robots (8 h)
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Lesson 1 · PLCs, ladder logic and industrial networks
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Lesson 2 · Industrial robots, cobots and cell integration
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Lesson 3 · Safety and collaborative operation
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Lesson 4 · Lab and assignment
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ROB107 Assessment · Industrial Automation and Collaborative Robots