The idea of this project is to develop a basic smart relay for simple automation tasks that can be programmed using Ladder Diagram (LD) language. The device will have a few buttons and an LCD display that will be used to program the device without the need of a computer. Unlike some of the projects out there, we don't want to design a replacement for a full-blown ndustrial PLC with many IOs and support for multiple communication buses. We want a very basic PLC designed with simplicity and low cost in mind.

I've had the idea for this project in mind for many years but we are just now starting the actual design.

The design of the hardware doesn't seem to pose major challenges but a few design choices have to be made and will probably seek advice on the software side.