Disclaimer: A cursory look through the forums didn't yield acceptable results. If this has been covered please share a link.
I love using Arduino for prototyping hardware projects at home and at work. I'm even using arduino and rasp pi boards to run some semi-industrial (read: live production) environments, supporting multi-million dollar production lines..!
The problem I'm running into now is that my company was recently acquired by a large corporation and their policies and general slant toward risk mitigation is requiring me to replace my arduino and rasp pi-powered systems with something more industrial. They obviously are recommending PLCs. I'm hoping this community, of which I've lurked for years, can lead me in the direction of an industrial microcontroller or something comparable.
For example, would the Skull Canyon NUC make a good replacement? But then, I'm not finding much on how to connect a computer to i/o boards. But then again, I don't really know where to look for that kind of information yet.
My question: Aside from PLCs, what are some other options for controlling industrial-applications after development with Arduino?
That's no fun! I want to avoid taking the, hire-consultants-to-hire-consultants route if possible. And I also want to avoid PLCs because I don't think they're as flexible, especially to develop with.
One issue with the inflexibility of PLCs, and I should have stressed this in my original post, is that these systems are first prototyped, then moved to production yet because of their complexity and the nature of the industry I'm in they are frequently changed and improved.
The need to make programming changes at high frequency is why I thought something like the NUC, which can run python and similar easy-access languages may actually make a good fit. Thoughts?
Jbot30:
The need to make programming changes at high frequency is why I thought something like the NUC, which can run python and similar easy-access languages may actually make a good fit. Thoughts?
I am just a hobby programmer and I don't think I have ever seen a PLC. So my comments have been about dealing with your new management.
From that perspective my thoughts on your question are irrelevant. The people you need to have that discussion with are your management team.
I can quite see how someone who has been used to having a lot of technical freedom will have a difficult time in a new management environment. Without meaning to sound at all unfriendly it may well be that a lot of the part of your expertise that you particularly value is redundant.
I worked most of my life in an organization where I was mostly a square peg in a round hole. A certain amount of that is good for an organization. But you loose all credibility if you alienate yourself from the management.
In my years of experience, you are describing the situation that tells you it's time to move on! Either a new company, consulting, or partner with capable friends to form a new company.
