Firmware update 1.4.0 is now available for the groov EPIC processor, GRV-EPIC-PR1.

Our engineering team released an exciting new update for groov EPIC this week. Here are some of the highlights.

Ready to start using your new GRV-EPIC-PR1, the groov EPIC Edge Programmable Industrial Controller? An EPIC can do so much more than a traditional controller.

But first, you'll need to activate it. Once you've activated, you can:

• Get future software and firmware updates
• Receive automatic notifications about updates
• Build and use web-based HMIs with groov View (the visualization software)

EPIC is more than just a name; it is an acronym describing the primary capabilities in the system. In this blog post, we’ll look more in depth at the P for programmability.

With today’s traditional PLC systems, you typically have one fixed development system with a limited set of tools. This is a burden that most engineers have had to suffer with. Oftentimes, you have to use inefficient workarounds to programmatically accomplish what is needed for different components of a given industrial automation application.

As the "P" in EPIC implies, we've added more Programming options to groov EPIC.  Our goal is for this Controller to be truly EPIC, and give developers and engineers multiple programming options on an Edge device, in addition to PAC Control, C/C++, Python, and more that's already available.  So, it's time to get excited about the future of EPIC, and discuss how developers can now get creative by using an IEC-61131-3 tool set for their applications.

Many automation engineers are familiar with the IEC 61131-3 standard, though you might not know it by that name. If you use ladder logic, you may be using one of the languages the standard defines.

Developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the standard defines the five accepted basic software architecture and programming languages of PLC control programming.

Of these five, one (Instruction List) has already been deprecated in the 3rd edition (61131-3). That leaves us with four languages, three graphical and one textual: