Remote control of automation systems for training

We are interested in the remote use of automated systems by students within the framework of Discrete Event Systems teaching. One of the most important problems in this case, is to guarantee that the proposed PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) control is correct: in the other word, respecting the specifications given by the teacher. Hence, there is a validation problem of the control. To solve this problem, we propose an on-line validation approach based on a filter placed between the PLC and the plant. A second problem is the system dimension. Indeed, we propose an approach to keep a global vision adapted at the level of learners. For that, we propose a functional identification. We applied this method to an original project where some 9 year old children discover automation by programming a tablets packaging system.