Integrating PLCs and Robots into the ROS 2 Ecosystem

To stimulate the connection between robotics and industrial control systems, this work presents a solution for integrating Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) into the Robot Operating System 2 (ROS 2), based on the IEC 61499 standard. For this purpose, we have developed a framework that automatically generates all code for the PLC and ROS 2. Limitations regarding usable data types are discussed, and we demonstrate the functionality by interconnecting a robot and a PLC.