Industrial NES - 2020 Intern Automation Project
Interns still locked-down, so I finished wiring that allowed them to test their code over VPN. Feels a little like finishing your kid's homework, but honestly stoked at what Natalie Rusca and Robert Orta delivered.
For the mentors, employers, and educators out there, the final breakdown was: ~$100 parts, 80-100hrs for intern, 10-14hrs for Sr. Engineer supervision. Seeing the result, this got them exposure to, if not proficiency in, our basic entry skills:
RSLogix Ladder Logic, UDT, Arrays
FT View ME HMI
Virtual Machines
Networking (PLC-HMI, VPN-ESXi)
Drawings, BOM, Electrical Design
Labor budgeting, time keeping
It may have been a little unfair dropping a Grainger catalog on a high-schooler to find parts, but Robert came through with a set of buttons with the sweetest, most satisfying haptics.
Still waiting on their final reports (project postmortems) before the summer!
Also, thanks to Rockwell Automation and
Buckles-Smith Electric for their online training videos. Saved time laying down the basics. And thanks to Jeff Weseloh for idea to try blockade!