Work-in-Progress: “Smart Print Automation” Remote Lab and Cloud Connector

The paper discusses a project to develop a “Smart Print Automation” system that allows remote access to the lab and is an integral part of Automation 4.0 education. This system consists of a print head, a gantry, a controller unit and an edge device designed and built by a group of students. A programmable logic controller (PLC), specifically the SIMATIC S7-1200, coordinates the system, primarily the three stepper motor drivers and motors. It uses OPC UA to communicate real-time production data with the Raspberry Pi edge device, providing remote monitoring and control via a web interface built with Node-RED. The print head and mechanical design of the T-Bot Gantry ensure fast and accurate operation. The PLC program was created using TIA Portal V17 and Function Block Diagram (FBD) for precise motor control. Docker facilitated the installation of programs on the edge device, including Node-RED, influxDB, Portainer and Grafana. While the system is currently standalone, the next phase is to enable it as a remote lab and develop a cloud connector to make the edge device data easily accessible online for machine learning applications.