Hello everyone,
I’m so glad you joined us.
My name is Alex Sharikov, and I’m a controls engineer based in Newcastle, Australia.
For years, our industry (controls and automation) has lagged behind the software engineers’ toolset. It makes programming and modifying industrial systems a “manual and tedious process”, leading to project delays, high costs, and intense frustration when dealing with proprietary, vendor-locked systems.
To tackle this problem, our team at ControlX has been developing JasperNode, an industrial automation runtime with an in-built, AI-powered development environment.
Think of it as an AI-powered softPLC.
How It Works (and What It’s NOT)
This isn’t about AI “running the machine”, it is AI-generated logic moderated with a “human-in-the-loop” approach.
- You (the engineer, technician, or process expert) write a natural language prompt. (e.g., “When the tank level is high, close the inlet valve and open the drain valve.”)
- The AI (via our JasperX cloud platform) generates the control logic in high-level JavaScript.
- You review, verify, and approve that code.
- With one click, you deploy it to the JasperNode runtime, which is a piece of software running on a standard Industrial PC (or any PC/Linux/macOS) at the client’s site.
- You can navigate to the tags and their logic to make manual modifications.
This process is designed to make it easier and fun to implement, troubleshoot, and modify control logic.
Who Is This For?
We designed JasperNode to be a flexible “workforce multiplier” for several key challenges:
- For System Integrators: Not replacing the PLCs, rather enreaching it with IT features. We’ve found JasperNode is an ideal “Data Integration Gateway”. It excels at the IT/OT convergence tasks that are often painful with traditional PLCs — connecting any machine (Modbus, S7, Ethernet/IP) to any IT system (MQTT, InfluxDB, Emails, HTTP APIs). It can be a cost-effective, non-threatening tool to solve data headaches for your clients.
- For Industrial Electricians / Maintenance Teams: This is a tool to help you stop “being locked out of the PLC”. It’s designed to give you the power to troubleshoot and modify logic on non-safety-critical systems, reducing downtime and your reliance on external specialist programmers.
- For Engineers & Developers: It’s an event-driven system built on modern tools (TypeScript/JavaScript) with a strong focus on developer experience (DX). If you’re comfortable with Node-RED or modern web stacks, you’ll feel at home.
We’re Looking for Feedback
JasperNode is production-ready and has been used in several local industrial applications (monitoring, SCADA, and non-critical process control).
We are now launching an Early Access Program and are looking for experienced automation professionals, engineers, and SIs to try the platform and provide honest, technical feedback.
To make this easier, we’ve created a starter kit called JasperPack. It’s a pre-assembled DIN rail with a mini-PC (running JasperNode) and a Siemens LOGO! PLC, so you can get started testing in minutes.
You can learn more at our website: https://www.jasperx.com.au/
I’m here to answer any technical questions you have. What are your thoughts on this approach?
Thanks,
Alex