Sona college students win Mitsubishi electric gold cup for AI-based PLC programming platform

Bengaluru ; A team of engineering students from Sona College of Technology in Salem has achieved national recognition after winning the prestigious Gold Cup at the Mitsubishi Electric Cup for developing an innovative artificial intelligence-based platform aimed at simplifying industrial automation programming.

The winning team, named “Team Nexus AI,” designed a system that can convert machine control instructions written in natural language into Structured Text code used for programming industrial Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). The innovation aims to make industrial automation programming faster and easier for engineers working in manufacturing environments.

Team Nexus AI was led by Tharanika K and included third-year BTech students Tharana A S, Vijay B and Seralathan R. Their project titled “Simplifying Industrial PLC Programming using Artificial Intelligence” stood out among nearly 300 entries from across India.

The competition required participants to develop fully functional automation solutions using technologies from Mitsubishi Electric under its advanced e-F@ctory concept. After clearing multiple technical rounds and mentorship sessions, the Sona College team successfully built an AI platform capable of generating executable control programs for the Mitsubishi Electric IQ F (FX5U) PLC system.

To demonstrate the system’s real-world application, the team built a fully operational Automated Dip Dyeing Machine powered entirely by AI-generated control code. The platform worked seamlessly with Mitsubishi Electric industrial automation components including PLCs, human-machine interfaces (HMIs), servo motors and factory automation modules.

The final evaluation was held at the MIT World Peace University campus in Pune, where the project was assessed by an eight-member jury consisting of automation engineers, ladder-logic specialists and research experts from Mitsubishi Electric.

Following the detailed evaluation of the platform’s architecture, safety design and scalability, Team Nexus AI was declared the Gold Cup winner and awarded a cash prize of ₹1 lakh.