KINGSTAR, the industrys leading provider of EtherCAT-enabled software PLCs and the most complete motion control platform on the market, will showcase its innovative machine automation solutions at booth 349 at Automate 2017, April 3-6, in Chicago, Illinois.

WALTHAM, MA - KINGSTAR, the industrys leading provider of EtherCAT-enabled software PLCs and the most complete motion control platform on the market, will showcase its innovative machine automation solutions at booth 349 at Automate 2017, April 3-6, in Chicago, Illinois.

KINGSTAR has worked with over 600 leaders in machine automation to learn best practices for implementing EtherCAT in robots and PLCs. With KINGSTAR, users can not only benefit from replacing hardware PLCs with software PLCs, but also leverage an open, integrated "plug and play" platform for future needs like motion control and machine vision. KINGSTAR delivers a cost-effective way to meet machine automation needs today and in the future, enabling over 56% cost reduction without sacrificing performance.

At booth 349 at Automate 2017, KINGSTAR will demo the new 3.1 version of its software PLC and motion control platform. KINGSTAR 3.1 includes multi-axis coordinated motion with linear 2D and 3D circular motion; easier upgrades to supported hardware; and features like E-CAM and Shutdown Handler support. In addition, the KINGSTAR platform allows programmers and non-programmers alike to integrate their PLC with an entire platform of add-on or third-party components through an intuitive, UX-driven interface.

KINGSTAR will also demonstrate each of the components of its soft motion platform, including:

• KINGSTAR Soft PLC, delivers application management and deployment that enables complete and consolidated control of assembly lines and machinery.
• KINGSTAR Soft Motion, provides an integrated environment for consolidated, inexpensive and scalable motion control. Soft Motion runs directly on the PC, uses the NIC card for I/O, and uses the powerful EtherCAT protocol for freedom from proprietary and costly hardware.
• KINGSTAR Machine Vision, powered by Matrox, allows engineers to build interactive applications and functions for image capture, processing, analysis, annotation, display, and archiving on GigE Vision® and other camera devices.
• KINGSTAR EtherCAT, exposes the real-time interface that allows engineers to integrate their own motion control algorithms or software with an EtherCAT network, providing highly customizable motion control and machine vision with precision performance at an affordable price.
• IntervalZero RTX64, the foundation of the KINGSTAR platform, replaces FPGAs and DSPs by transforming Windows into a real-time OS (RTOS), reducing development costs and significantly improving the quality of embedded systems.

"The market has realized that hardware PLCs for machine automation have become too cumbersome, proprietary, inflexible and costly," said Dipesh Mukerji, VP Marketing & Strategy of KINGSTAR. "The market requires the freedom and flexibility of open and standards-based integrated PLC software solutions that deploy superior performance affordably. KINGSTAR is excited to share our best practices for replacing outdated hardware PLCs with KINGSTAR 3.1s EtherCAT-enabled soft PLCs for conducting PC-based machine automation, motion control and machine vision in real-time at a fraction of the cost."

Visitors to booth 349 can expect live demos of KINGSTARs EtherCAT-enabled PLC on a servo motor and expert best-practice resources, including a cost and performance breakdown of using software vs. hardware, and 5 real-time Ethernet-based fieldbuses compared. Show attendees can also see KINGSTAR leaders Jerry Leitz and Daron Underwood share their expertise in two sessions. Jerry will teach in the "Advances in Motion Control Technology" session on Wednesday, April 5, and Daron will present in "Implementing IIoT and Industry 4.0 Solutions" on Monday, April 3.

KINGSTAR is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts and has offices in Nice, France, Munich, Germany and Taipei City, Taiwan. The company is an EtherCAT Technology Group, PLCopen, OPC Foundation, Mechatrolink Association, Intel Embedded Alliance and Microsoft Embedded Gold Partner.

For more information, visit http://kingstar.com/