Talking PLC

Ever been thinking about a plc that can talk?

Why should a plc not be able to talk, it has sensor, actors, but the only link between man and machine is HMI, or you have to cough up expensive software to do so.

My idea is to build my own card for the Siemens S7 300 series, and make it possible to let the plc speak out fixed sentences, and also variable messages.
This will enable operators to react without having to be in front of a screen or synoptic panel...

Dedicated FB's will make it possible to interact with the TTS module.

Your comments please,

Regards,

Henk

I don't see the point.

From what I've seen, alarm buzzers go unnoticed enough. Talking PLCs would be disabled or ignored way more easily.

The first sentence should be "WARNING, WILL ROBINSON!!"

Why bother? If you really need (HORRIBLY ANNOYING) voice announcements, just about any HMI package in the world can support that through an OPC driver and a sound card.

anybody remember those allen bradley things, talked in an american accent (no offence to our yankee brothers, but an american accent in the english midlands sounded weird)

I have incorporated verbal annunciation using the HMI for certain notificiations - but the project was primarily a technology showcase project. There are all kinds of audible, including verbal, annunciators available which will interface with just about any kind of PLC. I'm not sure putting it in the PLC rack is really necessary. Besides, as often as not, the PLC is not located at the same location that annunciation needs to be made.

However, no one has a foolproof crystal ball on what the market will demand or support.

Alaric said:

However, no one has a foolproof crystal ball on what the market will demand or support.

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Look at my avatar...would you like to lease it?

Peter said:

anybody remember those allen bradley things, talked in an american accent (no offence to our yankee brothers, but an american accent in the english midlands sounded weird)

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I bought my wife a navigational system that has just about any accent that you could want...They are all annoying, they are all very monotone


A made a voice notification with RSView...lasted a day, until they requested that it be removed

A talking PLC. So what would it say? maybe something like "Hey A**hole you cannont start the pump so stop pushing the GD button" or "So your the guy who programed me huh? DO you have any idea what you are doing?"

I am going to make a PLC that talks and I am going to call it the HAL9000, it will run all the space ship I am currently building. Then I am going to lie to it and send it 8trillion miles to space and have it kill the entire crew cause it went

Psychotic. In the last step of the program it will say "What are you doing Dave?"

My PLC's sometimes tell me a thing or two. Thing like 'You're not getting any sleep tonight, the plants down.' or 'Don't you dare think you can have a nice relaxing evening out with your wife.' and my favorite 'You've travelled too far from the plant, time to stop and get a hotel and a dial-up connection.' Jealous little tempermental things they are. Voices range from sexy manipulative female to demonistic devel spit.

Sometimes I talk, beg, plead and curse to them, they don't always listen, though. Sometime I wonder if I know their language at all.

I actually wish I could make mine stop.

cntrlfrk said:

My PLC's sometimes tell me a thing or two. Thing like 'You're not getting any sleep tonight, the plants down.' or 'Don't you dare think you can have a nice relaxing evening out with your wife.' and my favorite 'You've travelled too far from the plant, time to stop and get a hotel and a dial-up connection.' Jealous little tempermental things they are. Voices range from sexy manipulative female to demonistic devel spit.

Sometimes I talk, beg, plead and curse to them, they don't always listen, though. Sometime I wonder if I know their language at all.

I actually wish I could make mine stop.

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LOL

Reminds me of the time when hunting down an elusive problem, I half jokingly reached in to a control panel and gave a PLC a few vigorous rubs. As if it really had a mind of its own, the problem disappeared within moments after that.

That sounds like an episode from the book "The Soul Of A New Machine" by Tracey Kidder. It's about earlier days of mini-computer development at Data General.

As far back as the early '80s, Square D had a synthetic voice module for their Sy/Max controller. As technology progressed the components became obsolete and the module was eventually discontinued. At that time, the market place wanted stand alone products such as those offered by RACO.

Despite all of the nay-sayers, I say... HELL, YES!

After all, it's gonna happen anyway... sooner or later! (the Robot (LIS), HAL (SO-2001), and DATA (ST-TNG) are just around the corner!)

It's simply a matter of designing the messages to reflect, AND "inflect", the level of urgency. Anywhere from a calm announcement to an outraged scream for help!

I, as the PLC-voice, might tell you to check the Level of X. The first time, I'll tell you in a level voice that you should do so.

The second time, I'll become a bit more urgent... maybe.

When it approaches critical, I'll put a hell of a lot more emphasis on the message!

When it becomes really critical... I'll scream Bloody Murder!!!

Of course, this means effectively managing the priorities of the particular conditions. Each crisis-condition needs to be measured against all other existing crisis-conditions, and the duration of any particular problem situation.

This falls right into the idea of "Human-Think"!

Hey, do this!

C'mon, do this!

HEY!!! I SAID... DO THIS!!!

OK! Great! Now... do that!

C'mon, do that!

Alright! Now... do this other thing!

Aaaaahhhhh..... Thanks! You can go for a coffee and a smoke now. I'll carry it from here!

Sure, that takes effort, a lot of effort. Are you (nay-sayers) afraid of work?

The really true name of the game in automation is... COMMUNICATION!

Not only are you supposed to "communicate" with the I/O devices, but you are also supposed to "communicate" with the HUMAN ELEMENT!

Oh... yeah, well... I understand... you don't have time for this. Well, like it or not, this is gonna come up and bite you on the a$$. It's gonna happen. Like it or not, it's gonna happen!

Just as I said about Soft-PLC and the typical PLC becoming merged (check-out ControlLogix-5000), this too is going to happen!

And yes... for those that might consider, it does take a lot of memory space... but then, available memory space is becoming larger and larger all the time!

MAN! If ya don't look forward to what WILL be, then all you are doing is phasing yourself out!

This has been on my mind for a loooong time... I just haven't followed through... I guess because I've been too busy.

DAMN! I guess that means I'm phasing myself out!

Well, at least I have it in mind as a real possibility!

Ready or not, here it comes!

(The same thing I said about Soft-PLC and typical PLCs.)

Damn! Does this stuff make you feel old... or at least older?

Oh... don't forget, many HMIs are PC controlled!

Terry Woods said:

Hey, do this!

C'mon, do this!

HEY!!! I SAID... DO THIS!!!

OK! Great! Now... do that!

C'mon, do that!

Alright! Now... do this other thing!

Aaaaahhhhh..... Thanks! You can go for a coffee and a smoke now. I'll carry it from here!

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Terry,

Why have the PLC tell the operator to do this and do that?...why not have the PLC/"(the Robot (LIS), HAL (SO-2001), and DATA (ST-TNG)" do it instead?

it's like the factory of the future...a man and a dog...the man is there to feed the dog...and the dog is there to keep the man away from the equipment...

Reminds me of Hyperactive Bob which was predicted by Marshall Brain in his Book Manna.

It'll happen.
I don't know to what degree though.