ABB Automation Builder development software suite

ABB has launched an engineering development tool suite for industrial automation projects. Automation Builder provides an integrated development environment for control and motion systems based on PLCs, safety PLCs, robotics, motion control and related automation components.

Combining all of the tools required for configuring, programming, debugging and maintaining automation projects from a common intuitive interface, Automation Builder addresses the largest single cost element of most of today’s industrial automation projects: software.

Automation Builder builds on the company’s Control Builder Plus tool for programming PLCs. This provides PLC development resources in the form of the standards-compliant CoDeSys IEC 61131-3 development environment and the Panel Builder tool for creating HMIs. These are now complemented by tools for configuring and programming the latest generation of safety PLCs, and the RobotStudio tool for simulating and programming industrial robot applications, as well as Mint WorkBench and pre-built and tested libraries for controlling drives, and other devices connected via fieldbuses, networks or the web.

The suite integrates all these capabilities into a single environment served by common data and intuitive user interface. This provides data consistency that eliminates the need to enter data multiple times. It also avoids the programming effort and issues associated with exchanging data between the controller and all of the various devices in the automation system. These devices include servomotor drives, robot arms, operator panels and I/O. Third-party devices can also be interfaced into the environment.