LOW COST ENTRY INTO EDUCATION FOR UBIQUITIOUS AUTOMATION

The widened access to “life” experiments and work assignments offered by remote labs and workshops is in the beginning stages of being established in the field of engineering education. However, remote lab equipment is often very cost intensive and not available for widespread use. In this paper, the application of inexpensive off-the-shelf hardware and software is proposed, with the intent of setting up an integrated learning environment for skill-oriented PLC programming and configuration. PLC programming is regarded as a basic technology for ubiquitous automation. The objective is to provide engineering students ubiquitous access to real control hardware and devices in an uncomplicated and cost-oriented way.