News•Mar 28, 2026
PLCnext ROS Bridge: Enabling Hardware Interoperability Between Industrial PLCs and ROS
The PLCnext ROS Bridge introduces a Docker‑based ROS node that directly links the PLCnext Global Data Space with ROS topics and services, enabling bidirectional data exchange between industrial PLCs and robotic software. It leverages an Interface Description File to auto‑generate code, simplifying the exposure of PLC variables such as motor set‑points and safety flags to ROS. Deployment is handled via a read‑only PLCnext App through the Web‑Based Management interface, supporting CI/CD pipelines for repeatable integration. This solution merges deterministic PLC control with ROS’s flexible computation layer.
