Lab 3: Conveyor, Sensors, and Pneumatic Sequence Control

Lab 3

RAS 598: Industrial Robotics & Smart Factory Automation

Integrate a conveyor, industrial sensors, and pneumatic actuators into an interlocked automatic material-handling sequence.

Status: This laboratory is under preparation. Final workstation assignments and pneumatic schematics will be added before release.

Planned Scope

This laboratory applies PLC programming to a physical material-handling cell. Students will coordinate a conveyor, presence and position sensors, and pneumatic actuators while enforcing timing, motion, and safety constraints.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this laboratory, students should be able to:

  • Interpret electrical and pneumatic schematics.
  • Commission photoelectric, proximity, and position sensors.
  • Control conveyor and solenoid-valve outputs from a PLC.
  • Build an automatic sequence with sensor-confirmed transitions.
  • Detect timeouts, jams, and invalid actuator states.
  • Provide controlled manual operation for setup and recovery.

Planned Workflow

  1. Inspect the conveyor and pneumatic hardware.
  2. Validate each sensor and actuator in manual mode.
  3. Define the normal material-flow sequence.
  4. Implement sensor-confirmed transitions.
  5. Add timeout and jam detection.
  6. Test emergency stop, reset, and recovery behavior.
  7. Measure and document cycle performance.

Planned Deliverables

  • Electrical and pneumatic I/O map.
  • Sequence diagram or state machine.
  • PLC project with automatic and manual modes.
  • Fault-injection and recovery test results.
  • Demonstration video of the validated workcell cycle.