P-Atlas

INTELLIGENCE FOR INDUSTRIAL CONTROL

The machine knowledge that outlives the people who wrote it.

P-Atlas reads the real PLC program that runs a factory line, builds the causal graph behind it, and when the line stops — explains why. In the operator’s language, cited to the exact block, network and rung.

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How P-Atlas traces a fault A ladder-logic diagram: guard-door input %I4.2 drops, coil ALARM_4711 energizes, and P-Atlas walks a five-node causal graph from the alarm back to the root cause — the S12 guard door — then writes the explanation. FB "Cell6_Safety" — NETWORKS 12 & 14 %I4.2 "S12" AUTO RUN_EN %I4.2 ALARM_4711 ALARM_4711 CAUSAL TRACE ALARM_4711 coil · Network 14 Cell6_Safety · N12 %I4.2 S12 guard door ALARM_4711 coil · Network 14 Cell6_Safety · N12 %I4.2 S12 guard door WHY DID LINE 6 STOP? Guard door S12 (%I4.2) dropped during the transfer step. Interlock Cell6_Safety · Network 12 held the start condition low. → Check the mechanical latch on S12. Confidence: high — edge is in the log.
Sample trace — signal names simplified.

THE PROBLEM

A stopped line costs money by the minute. The answer is buried in ladder logic.

Every plant has the one engineer who can read the program and say why. That knowledge lives in one head, and it retires, resigns, or is on the night shift’s day off. Conventional SCADA doesn’t help — it reports the symptom and stops.

WHAT THE SCADA SAYS

ALARM 4711 — ROBOT 6 FAULT

WHAT P-ATLAS SAYS

Robot 6 stopped because safety input %I4.2 — guard door S12 — dropped during the transfer step. The interlock in FB “Cell6_Safety”, Network 12, held the start condition low. The door switch reads closed now, so check the mechanical latch. Confidence: high; the input edge is in the log.

IT Il Robot 6 si è fermato perché l’ingresso di sicurezza %I4.2 — porta di protezione S12 — è caduto durante la fase di trasferimento. L’interblocco nell’FB “Cell6_Safety”, Network 12, ha tenuto bassa la condizione di avvio. Il contatto della porta ora risulta chiuso: verificare il fermo meccanico. Confidenza: alta; il fronte dell’ingresso è registrato nel log.

Illustrative answer in the product’s format.

VERIFIED, NOT PROJECTED

Measured against a real production program.

  • 17,167 entities parsed
  • 57 blocks rendered
  • 1,900 tags resolved
  • 22,102 causal relationships
  • 92% of logic networks explained in prose, EN + IT
  • 167 automated tests

One real Siemens program from a working line — not a synthetic benchmark.

From vendor file to a straight answer.

  1. Import the real program

    Siemens TIA or Schneider, plus the HMI project. Not a re-model of the line — the actual logic it runs.

  2. Build the causal graph

    Contacts, coils, blocks and tags become nodes; 22,102 relationships connect symptom to source.

  3. Connect read-only

    S7, S7CommPlus, Modbus TCP. Live values overlay the logic. Writes fail closed and are audited.

  4. Ask why

    Explanations in operator language, English and Italian, cited to block, network and rung — with every uncertainty stated, not hidden.

BUILT LIKE CONTROLS SOFTWARE, NOT A DEMO

Read-only by construction. Writes fail closed.

The live layer can only read.

S7, S7CommPlus and Modbus TCP sessions open read-only — the connection cannot change the machine.

The write path proves itself.

Program edits are proven to compile in real TIA before anyone trusts them.

The AI layer is yours to place.

Anthropic, OpenAI, or fully on-premise. The model is a component, not a dependency.

Where we are.

P-Atlas is a working product, pre-revenue. It is in active conversation with IMA S.p.A. — the Bologna packaging-machinery group, around 6,200 people across 45 plants — and with Candy Factory Group. No contract is signed and no revenue is booked. We state that plainly because the product’s entire value is saying true things about machines; the company should meet the same bar.

The knowledge is already in your machines. P-Atlas reads it.

Contact — gpioldi@gp4isi.com Connect on LinkedIn