Tuinbouw Atelier (TTA), a global market leader in transplanting machinery, has great confidence in SIGMATEK's automation technology. The new machines will further advance transplanting techniques due to TTA's significant technological advancements in areas such as platform principles and new clamps, and the continued excellence of TTA's modern control systems over the years. 1 Introduction Tuinbouw Atelier (TTA), a global market leader in transplanting machinery, has great confidence in SIGMATEK's automation technology. The new machines will further advance transplanting techniques due to TTA's significant technological advancements in areas such as platform principles and new clamps, and the continued excellence of TTA's modern control systems over the years. The ease of use of the innovative technology is also a major leap forward, reflecting the business philosophy of their director, Anne den Hartigh. 2 Challenges To save time and improve quality, modern gardening is no longer the manual workshop of the past; fully automated machinery with digital cameras has been put into use. Figure 1 Figure 2 To promote plant growth, plants need to be transplanted from smaller containers to larger ones periodically. This process is jokingly called "anger" because it can easily damage the plants. Therefore, necessary measures need to be taken to prevent damage during the process. A planter can hold 512 pots, and the transplanting machine must transplant the plants into the target pots quickly and efficiently. Before this, a digital camera checks the position of the pots and determines if they are empty. The camera also determines the appropriate planting height and color, as the plants in the pots must always maintain the same color and natural characteristics. During operation, height and color are checked simultaneously. When planting thousands of plants per hour, speed and accuracy are two essential factors. 3 Innovation Den Hartigh believed that the pliers need to be very gentle when gripping seedlings so as not to damage the plant's stem. When the pliers are not gripping an object, the lower pivot at the bottom extends, slightly lifting the ball at the base of the pliers. Once the pliers have lifted the seedling, the pivot automatically returns to its base position. Although the principle is very simple, it effectively avoids plant damage. The TTA holder is a fully automated transplanting machine that fills pots with plants. First, the TTA visual scanning system scans the pot's capacity, then plants are planted in empty pots. Connecting the TTA blow-out system further improves precision, offering significant advantages for densely packed or large plants. First, plants are scanned by a digital camera, adjusting pot parameters such as plant height, color, or position. Plants that show slight color differences from male flowers a few months after sowing are identified by a "step-scan" camera. After selection, the identified male plants are removed by a pressure-sealed tube at the bottom. Therefore, our solution consists of a monitoring system and a planter that promotes plant growth. It can handle large numbers of plants throughout the "overflow" process; the fully automated transplanter with its high capacity solves the "overflow" problem. Medium to large enterprises can use the TTA-PRE model, which can simultaneously install 16-24 clamps and plant 12,400 to 50,000 plants per hour. Each clamp is controlled by a microprocessor with an additional dedicated servo drive. Thanks to this technology, TTA-PRE can plant plants in any conceivable pattern, making the design of new patterns simple. When the operator presses a button, the clamp enters a "free-wheel" mode, with each button manually positioned correctly. Once positioned, the operator simply presses the save button to save the clamp's position, thus generating the desired graphic. Simultaneously, the entire program settings are saved and can be retrieved from the storage device. (Figures 3 and 4 are referenced here.) 4. Platform Construction Principle To meet the requirement of maintaining machine speed, we designed a drive system. This system allows the clamp to continuously move and remain bent during operation. Unlike a rapid-motion system, it features inherently non-smooth motion, making it easy to control during application. When using a system based on the "mounting principle," two fixed servo drives operate two axes (y-axis and z-axis) via a single drive, resulting in highly dynamic mounting motion. Another servo drive controls reduced x-axis movement, only activating when adjusting the clamp differential. In early 2001, we replaced the SAIA-Burgess with the DIAS PLC system. The DIAS PLC can use the LASAL Class programming tool within the LASAL software. The most important reason for this was that connecting to the "mounting principle" increased speed by 25%-30%, improved configuration accuracy to 0.5mm, and promoted the reuse of target-oriented design software. Another advantage of the DIAS system is the integration of HMI, PLC, and Motion Control into the DTC 281 operator terminal, replacing the numerous separate I/O modules previously required. DIAS is therefore called a functional group, consisting of functional modules (digital/analog I/O modules, position modules, servo modules, etc.) and additional connection terminals based on the entire cable reel area, eliminating the need for separate connection terminals. The advantage of LASAL programming software is that it partitions CPU processing time and prioritizes applications that intend to use it. It defines a CPU time to track each task. The "framework" driver plays a crucial role, allocating servo technology in 2ms increments, reserving 10ms for PLC cyclic tasks, and allocating the remaining time to relatively minor tasks such as displays. Figure 5 and Figure 6 illustrate this. LASAL is a software package designed by SIGMATEK for goal-oriented design, motion control, and visualization of PLCs. Key features and libraries for goal-oriented design have different "levels," and "goals" can exist outside these levels. This means that previously developed and tested software code can become part of newly generated program code. In TTA, the "framework" acts as a level; when a new project is created, it can be retrieved from the library and integrated into the new project via drag and drop. If needed, the parameters of the goal can be adjusted in the new application to better suit it. The software is also very easy to operate on professional servers and clients. To create a connection between a sensor and a control unit, simply draw a line between the icons of the input and output devices using the mouse. The software includes labels for different icons, eliminating the need to redefine previously defined objects throughout the task. (Proceedings of the 2nd and 3rd Servo and Motion Control Forums)