There are a variety of microcontrollers on the market today, including Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and ESP32 modules. These devices have become great alternatives to costly and difficult to program (and even more difficult to secure!) PLCs.
Industrial hybrids, such as the CONTROLLINO are also available for situations where you need to run on higher voltages without adding several converters
One of the more compelling reasons to turn toward microcontrollers is the modern development suites and improved firmwares that are available. Take for example the demonstrations in this video, where you can see (to this day) many of the most common PLCs on the market have security flaws that can not or will not be addressed by the manufacturer. Meanwhile microcontrollers give you raw access to the lowest levels of functionality on the boards, allowing you to implement, patch, or disable any features you wish
Some past solutions utilizing microcontrollers include:
- Industrial Sprinkler Systems (maintaining green lumber)
- Kiln Monitors
- Weather Stations connected to building shutters
- Jump chain outfeeds
- Infeed systems
- Lumber meters – counting outbound material by piece or by foot