2023 saw Artificial Intelligence (AI) go ‘mainstream’. General consumers got to grips with easily accessible AI technologies like ChatGPT – a language based chatbot used to create humanlike conversational dialogue.
In the world of automation, accelerated advancements in AI have long been underway, with companies like Beckhoff Automation Australia offering AI-supported engineering software in the form of TwinCAT Chat.
“With TwinCAT Chat, large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT from OpenAI, are conveniently used in the TwinCAT XAE engineering environment to develop projects,” explains Nick Psahoulias, Managing Director of Beckhoff Automation Australia. “This unlocks system potential.”
LLMs offer numerous benefits to both automation engineers and enterprise management. For automation engineers, for instance, Nick explains that LLMs have the potential to revolutionise the development process by automatically generating and completing code. “The benefit here is that it speeds up the entire process.”
In addition, customers with LLMs can create personal tutorials and ask for solutions to specific problems that arise. “This allows customers to operate, and troubleshoot, independently and in their own time.”
Looking to enterprise management, Nick says that LLMs promote knowledge transfer within an organisation. “Here, they act as a central knowledge base and can also help to relieve pressure on one’s support team.” He adds that in an industry privy to skills shortages, AI serves as a point of contact for initial customer queries.
APPEX 2024, taking place in Melbourne from 12 to 15 March 2024, is the ideal platform for Beckhoff Automation to showcase TwinCAT Chat. “The biggest barrier to entry for any software solution is access to customers. We are excited to showcase TwinCAT 3 and TwinCAT Chat to visitors at this show. It’s a great way for them to get to grips with it in a focused environment and for us to showcase its true potential.”
TwinCAT Chat was developed to deeply integrate LLMs into control engineering, giving users a clear benefit when compared to using ChatGPT traditionally in a web browser, for example. This greatly simplifies the development process, as communication and code exchange are seamlessly integrated. Furthermore, the basic initialisation of the LLM has been tailored specifically to TwinCAT requests.
“You can thus ask specific questions directly and don’t have to tell the LLM that you are using TwinCAT first and that the code examples are expected in Structured Text. In addition, the generated code can easily be transferred, which not only saves developers time but also prevents the errors that occur when transferring code manually.”
For efficient interaction with TwinCAT Chat, simple one-click pre-tested requests can be used that are specifically designed to improve the user's workflow. Other current development work includes automated creation of TwinCAT HMI controls and a chatbot interface to the extensive Beckhoff documentation system.
“We’re very excited to put the power of AI technology into the hands of our customers, with the TwinCAT Chat solution that’s so easy to use, and cost-effective,” concludes Nick.
Visit Beckhoff Automation at APPEX (stand D025) from 12 to 15 March 2024.
Website: https://www.beckhoff.com/en-au/
