A modular automation support system for modular plants includes an engineering support system comprising a control and execution engine configured to: receive data from a monitoring infrastructure of a modular plant and convert that data into semantic data which conforms to a semantic data model; use one or more semantic rules or mechanisms relating the semantic data received from the monitoring infrastructure to services provided by modules of a pipeline of the modular plant to control the pipeline in executing a process.

A modular automation support system for modular plants comprises an automation engineering support system comprising a feedback processing component configured to modify the operation of one or more other components of the automation engineering support system based on user feedback.

A machining system includes an information processing system, a first machine tool communicable with the information processing system, and a second machine tool communicable with the information processing system. The information processing system includes a reception unit that receives setting data set in the first machine tool, a storage device that stores the setting data received from the first machine tool, and a transmission unit that transmits the setting data of the first machine tool stored in the storage device to the second machine tool in response to a setting data acquisition request, when the setting data is inheritable to the second machine tool. The second machine tool includes a setting unit that allows the second machine tool to inherit the setting data received from the information processing system.

Method and system for engineering with sequence libraries are provided. A first set of engineering data is defined for a first engineering project to generate a first sequence library for the first engineering project, independently of one or more lower level engineering projects for configuring one or more field control systems. The sequence library assignment process is to assign the first sequence library to the one or more lower level engineering projects simultaneously to generate one or more first assigned sequence libraries for the one or more lower level engineering projects for configuring the one or more field control systems. The parallel configuration process is to perform a parallel configuration process which configures the first sequence library for the first engineering project, while assigning the first sequence library to another one or more lower level engineering projects.

A robot controller is configured to control operation of at least one industrial robot. The robot controller includes: a processor; a memory configured to store a current system configuration of the robot controller, and an editing interface configured to enable modification of the current system configuration. It further includes a stored fingerprint corresponding to the system configuration according to original manufacturer settings; and a fingerprinting interface configured to facilitate computation of a fingerprint based on the current system configuration. The stored and computed fingerprints may be compared to determine whether any modification has occurred.

A method includes defining a plurality of variables to modify in a control loop; collecting first data using a first variable of the plurality of variables while executing the control loop, generating a first result based on the collecting first data step, substituting a second variable of the plurality of variables for the first variable, collecting second data using the second variable while executing the control loop, generating a second result based on the collecting second data step, comparing the first result and the second result; and taking an action based on the comparing step.

An I/O interface configuration device for configuring I/O interfaces comprises an input interface, an output interface, a storage unit, a detecting pin, a converting unit and a computing unit. The input interface electrically connects to a controlling port of a controlling circuit to receive a data type. The output interface electrically connects to a controlled port of a controlled device to output another data type. The storage unit stores a plurality of configuration files, one of the configuration files corresponds to a circuit type of the controlling circuit. The detecting pin is adapted to retrieve the circuit type. The converting unit converts the data type to said another data type and selectively outputs said another data type from the output interface. The computing unit loads the configuration file corresponding to the circuit type and control the converting unit to configure the I/O interface according to the configuration file.

A system and method includes partitioning a network into first and second sub-networks connected by a network connection. A first component with first configuration data and a first local server are located in the first sub-network; a second component with second configuration data and a second local server are located in the second sub-network. The first configuration data is stored on the first and second local servers. The network connection is interrupted and the first configuration data is updated on the first local server. The network connection is re-connected, and if the first configuration data on the second local server is unchanged, the first configuration data on the second local server is overwritten.

An intuitive customization system includes a server unit, a display device, an interface unit and a manufacturing station. The server unit is signally connected to an internet. The display device is signally connected to the server unit. The interface unit is displayed on the display device. The interface unit includes a working window frame, a first base image, a first part image and a first pattern menu. The first pattern menu comprises P first patterns. When a user selects one of the P first patterns of the first pattern menu, the first part image displays a first customized pattern, and the first customized pattern represents the one of the P first patterns. A first user design includes the first base image, the first part image and the first customized pattern. The manufacturing station manufactures a finished product according to the first user design.

Providing separate real-time and configuration segments in a database. The real-time segment provides real-time data values to a real-time application and the configuration segment provides configuration data values to the real-time application. Utilizing two or more configuration segments enables changes to configuration data values without impacting real-time applications.