Visit Automate Show 2024 (May 6-9) to discover how Arduino is transforming the industrial automation space through open-source hardware and software, providing new perspectives and unlocking opportunities across every industry. More than 30,000 enterprises worldwide already use the company’s user-friendly and reliable Arduino Pro hardware, intuitive Arduino Cloud, accessible educational kits and certification courses.
Arduino Opta: The “Swiss Army Knife” of industrial automation
Opta is a micro-PLC, adopted to integrate automation with IoT applications due to its security features and built-in connectivity options. It allows users to avoid vendor lock-in and is suitable even for beginners in industrial and building automation, remote monitoring and control, and IoT. Arduino Opta gives users plenty of programming choices: it can be programmed with the key IEC 61131-3 languages as well as within the Arduino environment, also relying on many ready-to-use software libraries and sketches. In addition, the two approaches can be combined to further expand capabilities.
“With Opta, we lower barriers to industrial automation enabling a broad range of projects that were ‘unthinkable’ or ‘unapproachable’ not long ago. We’ve worked hard to provide high-performance hardware and super-secure connectivity at a compelling price point, combined with flexibility in the choice of the preferred programming paradigm between Arduino language and all IEC 61131-3 languages,” said Fabio Violante, the CEO of Arduino.
Its ease of use has made Opta a favorite tool also in rapid prototyping, education and training. Arduino itself has recently launched the Arduino PLC Starter Kit, based on the Opta WiFi and Arduino PLC IDE, offering a training solution that plugs right into the future of industrial automation. The kit, integration-ready with industrial simulated systems, is designed to introduce students in vocational institutes and tech-oriented academies to IEC 61131-3 standard programming languages and Modbus communications.
New skills, new ways of learning
Don’t miss the joint Opta demo at Weintek USA’s booth, part of a partnership aimed at enhancing STEM HMI+PLC training programmes across the United States, “Weintek USA is committed to redefining the way humans and machines interact. It’s a twofold challenge: raising industry standards for data processing and displaying performances on one side, while simultaneously enhancing accessibility to IoT solutions on the other,” says Oscar Rojas, the CEO of Weintek USA.
Arduino will also exhibit at Automate’s “Educator Day”, showcasing the PLC Starter Kit and unveiling the ACE-100 course, granting participants the recognised Arduino Certified Engineer credential, “ACE-100 is a comprehensive training programme designed to equip participants with the skills and knowledge needed for industrial and building automation using Arduino Opta. Developed in collaboration with industry experts, the course offers hands-on experience and practical insights into PLC programming. Arduino’s vision of democratising electronics now extends to industrial automation, lowering barriers to entry with Opta and the ACE-100 course,” said Guneet Bedi, a senior vice president and general manager of the Americas at Arduino.
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