senior project regarding PLC

[Brijm]

ASSUMING

This in my opinion is way too complicated and expensive for a school project. You need to scale it back. First thing I would throw out is random size blocks. Make em standard size - you have enough challenges

My experience with PLCs is do not worry too much about the programming - that is really the "simple" part. The complicated part is the sensors and actuators and
selecting the correct ones

Dan Bentler

I disagree Dan, If you can program a palletizing robot, then programming it to make a choice based on three different blocks is relatively simple. Once the logic is done for one, then repeating it two more times, with a different variable shouldn't take long.

As to the expensive part, I'll assume, that the robot is already there, and probably the PLC and the sensors.

And for the blocks, as daba said, if you need to pick up moving blocks, then it does add a degree of difficulty. If you have to keep track of multiple moving blocks that passed the sensor, then even more. What I'm picuring, is the blocks coming to a physical stop at the end of a conveyor. At the physical stop, there are three capacitive proxes, stacked at different heights.

I like the project, as I could see this sorting automation as a definate real world situation.

 

[Lancie1]

If I run into any specific trouble, I now know where to ask. I still have 3 months to complete my project. Thanks a lot everyone.

Dan,
That is not as long as you think. For most of us, a real-life programming project might run for 6 months easily, and in many cases, a year or more. That is working full-time 8 hours a day. Time is always short, and it gets even shorter as you get closer to the deadline. You will find that now you have plenty of options, but in a month those options will start to narrow as you have to eliminate the ones that will require more than 2 months to finish - and so on.

(Speaking as an old Tennessee hillbilly and UT graduate): Do not wait a month to get started. Start now, work steadily, do at least one task on this project EVERY day until you finish.

 

[leitmotif]

I disagree Dan, If you can program a palletizing robot, then programming it to make a choice based on three different blocks is relatively simple. Once the logic is done for one, then repeating it two more times, with a different variable shouldn't take long.

As to the expensive part, I'll assume, that the robot is already there, and probably the PLC and the sensors. .

If he has a functional robot ie not broken or if slightly broken and easily repaired then it becomes orders of magnitude simpler. I would assume he has PLCs in lab.

Dan Bentler