PLC tutorial videos
A minute each on the parts of PLC Gym that take some learning: the missions, the simulator, the ladder editor, finding bugs and bringing your own code.
- 1 of 6
Inside a mission
The loop every mission follows: read the job, change the code, run it, press the machine's buttons, then test it.
Read what it says
Every mission in PLC Gym works the same way. Learn it once and you're set.
On the left is your job and your code. On the right is the machine your code runs.
Step one. Read your job. It tells you what the machine has to do, and Read the full brief opens every rule.
Step two. Change the code. This is the only part you touch. The machine never changes, only the rules it follows.
Step three. Press Run PLC. Your code is now running a real machine, live, in 3D.
Step four. Press the machine's buttons and watch. Hold Start and the pump runs. Let go and it stops.
Step five. Press Test solution. PLC Gym tries your code on its own checks. Pass them all and the mission is complete. You earn your XP and level up.
Fail a check? Nothing is lost. It tells you what went wrong, so change your code and test again, as often as you like.
Down at the bottom, the tabs show what's going on inside while it runs: live tags, trends and your test results.
That's the loop. Read, change, run, try, test. Now go and make something move.
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Find the bug
A pump that won't stay on. Test results, Rewind, live tags, trends and slow motion show why, and one line fixes it.
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This code looks right. One press of Start should keep the pump running. Let's see.
Run it and hold Start. The pump runs.
Let go, and it stops. That's the bug.
Press Test solution. Every failed check tells you what happened, in plain words.
With Pro, press Replay failure. Drag back and forward through it, scan by scan, and see the exact moment PumpOn dropped.
Watch tags shows every tag live while the machine runs. Hold Start and PumpOn goes true. Let go, and it drops with it.
Trends draws your signals over time, so you can see what changed, and when.
Too fast to follow? Drop the speed to a quarter, or pause and step through one scan at a time.
The fix: PumpOn has to hold itself on. Add it to its own line, test again, and every check passes.
So: test it, replay it, watch it, fix it. That's how engineers find bugs.
- 3 of 6
Driving the simulator
Turn, zoom and fly round the 3D machine, see what each part is doing, and work the operator's buttons and switches.
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The machine is a full 3D simulation, run by your code. Here's how to drive it.
Drag to turn it, and scroll to zoom right in. The house button takes you back to the whole machine.
Pick a part of the rig here, and the camera flies straight to it.
Click any part to see what it is, and what it's doing right now.
This button swaps the 3D view for a flat diagram of how it all connects.
Under the machine are the operator's buttons. A pushbutton only works while you hold it, and springs back when you let go.
Here the code keeps the pump running after you let go. Stop turns it off.
A switch, like Permit, stays where you leave it.
The Inputs tab does the same from below. Hold a button, press two at once, or set a simulated input.
And the readings show what your code asks for, next to what the machine really does.
Turn it, click it, press it, watch it. Nothing here can break, so try anything.
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The ladder editor
Pick, name, add and branch: build a seal in rung, then watch the power flow light up while the machine runs.
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Prefer ladder? Every mission can be written as a ladder diagram. Switch to it here.
Click a contact to pick it. A box opens with everything you can do to it.
Edit name, type the tag, and the suggestions come from your own tags.
NO passes power while its tag is on. NC passes it while it's off. One click swaps them.
With a contact picked, the toolbar adds the next one straight after it. That's AND. Here, a normally closed Stop, then Permit.
Branch around puts a parallel path round the pick. That's OR. Add PumpOn on the branch, and the pump can hold itself on.
Run it, and the power flow lights up green, live, while the machine runs.
Let go of Start, and power keeps flowing through the PumpOn branch. That's a seal in.
Test it, and every check passes.
Pick it, name it, add to it, branch it. That's how every rung gets built.
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Your own code and the converter
Run a TIA Portal, Studio 5000 or TwinCAT export on a 3D machine, then convert it to the other maker and compare the two.
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Got code from site? Test it on a working 3D machine before anyone goes near the real thing.
Drop in a TIA Portal source, a Studio 5000 export, or a TwinCAT POU, or paste it. Here, one of our samples.
PLC Gym reads it, and puts the best matching machine first.
It makes a first guess at which of your tags is which button, sensor and output. Change anything that's wrong.
Then it runs your code on the machine, scan by scan. Press its buttons and watch it work.
Where the tests from a mission fit your wiring, run those too.
Moving from Siemens to Rockwell? The converter turns your code into the other maker's, as ladder or Structured Text.
Then it runs both versions side by side, scan by scan, and tells you if they match.
And it shows you what's different in the other maker, line by line. A free account converts three of your own programs. Pro converts as many as you like.
Bring it, match it, run it, convert it. Your code, on a real machine, in your browser.
- 6 of 6
The guided labs
Never programmed a PLC? Two guided labs take you from nothing to your first working program, one step at a time.
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Never programmed a PLC? Start with the guided labs. They walk you through it, one step at a time.
Each lab is a short run of steps. Finish one, and the next unlocks.
The Do this box always tells you what to do next. Here, find the tank.
Words with a dotted line explain themselves. Click one.
Now change the code. Click the highlighted value and pick TRUE. No typing yet.
Press Run, and the controller opens the valve. The tank starts to fill.
Not sure why it did that? Why freezes the machine and explains its latest scan, in plain words.
Then try FALSE, and see what changes. Two labs, and you're ready for your first mission.
Read it, do it, run it, ask why. The fastest way to your first working program.
Every video has English captions built in. Press CC in the player for Arabic, Czech, German, Spanish, Estonian, French, Hindi, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Thai, Turkish or Vietnamese.