Automation & Industrial Controls

The complete controls path: PID, industrial automation, PLC programming, DCS and CNC, plus the math foundations and the career/portfolio layer. The most accessible hands-on hiring track.

All four courses are $240 together, $60 less than buying them one by one.

What is inside

Recommended path

Controls fundamentals → PLC → hands-on vendor reps → the sorting-cell & SCADA builds → get hired.

How every lesson works

Each lesson runs the same seven-part structure: learning material, active recall, conceptual questions, practice problems, a Feynman explanation, error analysis, and a mini challenge, then a quiz you have to pass to mark it complete. Completed modules enter a spaced-repetition queue that asks you real questions at 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days, and reschedules from what you actually get right.

Full syllabus

• Variables, types and arithmetic (locked)
• Comparisons, booleans and if / else (locked)
• Loops: for and while (locked)
• Functions (locked)
• Lists and arrays (vectors) (locked)
• From scripts to control logic (locked)
• Data structures for automation (locked)
• Files & CSV process data (locked)
• Exceptions & error handling (locked)
• Classes & objects for plant equipment (locked)
• Modules & libraries (locked)
• NumPy arrays (locked)
• Vector operations (locked)
• Matrix fundamentals (locked)
• Random numbers & simulation (locked)
• Reading instruments & timing the scan (locked)
• Instrument data processing (locked)
• State machines & sequential control (locked)
• Serial communication (locked)
• Logging data (locked)
• Plotting with Matplotlib (locked)
• PROJECT: Simulated tank-level controller (locked)
• Structuring large programs (locked)
• PROJECT: Data historian logger (locked)
• PROJECT: Alarm detection system (locked)
• Review & Retention // Python for Robotics (locked)
• The automation pyramid (locked)
• Industrial processes & process flow (locked)
• Sensors, actuators & fieldbuses (locked)
• Three-phase power & industrial electrical basics (locked)
• Relays & motor starters (locked)
• Pneumatics & fluid power (locked)
• Open-loop & closed-loop systems (locked)
• Instrumentation & signals (locked)
• PROJECT: Process & Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID) (locked)
• Safety fundamentals (locked)
• PROJECT: Design an automated bottling cell (locked)
• PROJECT: Automated water system (locked)
• Review & Retention // Industrial Automation (locked)
• PLC basics & the scan cycle (locked)
• Inputs & outputs (locked)
• Memory areas & addressing (locked)
• Ladder logic fundamentals (locked)
• Timers & counters (locked)
• Comparators & math instructions (locked)
• PROJECT: Motor start/stop with seal-in & timer (locked)
• Motor control & interlocks (locked)
• PROJECT: Traffic light system (locked)
• Alarms & sequencing (locked)
• PROJECT: Conveyor controller (locked)
• PROJECT: Water tank controller (locked)
• Review & Retention // PLC Programming (locked)
• Practical calculus: rates & accumulation (locked)
• Systems, inputs & error signals (locked)
• Open vs closed loop & feedback (locked)
• First & second order systems (locked)
• The three PID terms, intuitively (locked)
• Proportional & integral control (locked)
• Derivative control & the full PID (locked)
• Control applications: temperature, speed, position (locked)
• Stability basics (locked)
• PROJECT: Tune a PID on a simulated plant (locked)
• PROJECT: Temperature controller (locked)
• PROJECT: DC motor speed controller (locked)
• PROJECT: Line-following robot controller (locked)
• Review & Retention // PID / Control Systems (locked)
• CNC machine safety (locked)
• CNC concepts & coordinate systems (locked)
• G-code basics (locked)
• Linear & circular interpolation (locked)
• Program structure & tool changes (locked)
• PROJECT: Hand-write G-code for a square pocket (locked)
• PROJECT: Engraved nameplate (locked)
• Review & Retention // CNC Programming (locked)
• DCS vs PLC vs SCADA (locked)
• DCS architecture & process loops (locked)
• Controllers & process variables (locked)
• Operator stations & HMI (locked)
• PROJECT: Control narrative for a heated tank (locked)
• PROJECT: Boiler monitoring system (locked)
• PROJECT: Process visualization (locked)
• Review & Retention // DCS Systems (locked)
• Iterators & generators (locked)
• Decorators (locked)
• Context managers (locked)
• Type hints & documentation (locked)
• Unit testing (locked)
• Advanced NumPy (locked)
• Pandas for process data (locked)
• Signal processing (locked)
• Coordinate frames & transforms (locked)
• State estimation & sensor fusion (locked)
• Optimization basics (locked)
• Monte Carlo simulation (locked)
• PROJECT: A* route planner on a plant-floor grid (locked)
• Threads, processes & the GIL (locked)
• Async programming (locked)
• Producer-consumer & real-time pipelines (locked)
• Design patterns for automation (locked)
• Logging frameworks (locked)
• Configuration management (locked)
• Packaging applications (locked)
• PROJECT: SCADA-style live trend (locked)
• PROJECT: Redundant-instrument fusion framework (locked)
• PROJECT: Controls utility library (locked)
• LAB // Robot stack on Raspberry Pi (or full sim) (locked)
• Review & Retention // Python for Robotics (locked)
• ISA standards & instrumentation design (locked)
• Industrial networks, OPC UA & IIoT (locked)
• SCADA concepts & architecture (locked)
• MQTT, Sparkplug B & the Unified Namespace (locked)
• Functional safety & SIL (locked)
• PROJECT: Networked & safe robot cell (locked)
• Reliability & maintenance strategies (locked)
• PROJECT: Complete factory automation design (locked)
• PROJECT: Instrumentation package design (locked)
• Hands-on // Schematics & control-panel wiring (locked)
• Hands-on // VFD (variable frequency drive) setup (locked)
• Hands-on // Industrial networking config (Modbus, EtherNet/IP, Profinet) (locked)
• Hands-on // Building an HMI / SCADA screen (locked)
• Hands-on // Commissioning workflow: I/O lists, narratives, FAT/SAT (locked)
• Hands-on // The PLC vendor landscape + a second ecosystem (TwinCAT) (locked)
• LAB // A networked cell: PLC + HMI + 4-20 mA (locked)
• Review & Retention // Industrial Automation (locked)
• IEC 61131-3 & Structured Text (locked)
• Function blocks (locked)
• Data handling & structures (locked)
• Sequential Function Charts (state machines) (locked)
• PROJECT: Batch process in SFC + ST (locked)
• Industrial communication networks (locked)
• Industrial motion control: servos, homing, gearing & camming (locked)
• HMI & SCADA integration (locked)
• Diagnostics & fault handling (locked)
• PROJECT: Automated production cell (locked)
• PROJECT: Smart factory controller (locked)
• LAB // OpenPLC: ladder + SFC on real I/O (locked)
• Review & Retention // PLC Programming (locked)
• Discretizing the PID controller (locked)
• Anti-windup, filtering & feedforward (locked)
• Laplace transforms & transfer functions (locked)
• Poles, zeros & the root locus (locked)
• Frequency response & margins (locked)
• PROJECT: Tuning methods & stability (locked)
• State-space models & state feedback (locked)
• Observers & state estimation (locked)
• Cascade control (locked)
• PROJECT: Self-balancing robot controller (locked)
• PROJECT: Servo motion controller (locked)
• PROJECT: Multi-loop industrial process controller (locked)
• LAB // Real PID: motor speed or temperature (locked)
• Review & Retention // PID / Control Systems (locked)
• Tool offsets & cutter compensation (locked)
• Canned cycles, feeds & speeds, CAM (locked)
• PROJECT: Full multi-tool part program (locked)
• Parametric programming & macros (locked)
• Machining optimization (locked)
• Multi-axis machining concepts (locked)
• PROJECT: Automated production program (locked)
• LAB // G-code: simulator, plotter, or 3018 (locked)
• Review & Retention // CNC Programming (locked)
• Advanced regulatory control (locked)
• Batch control (S88) & alarm management (locked)
• PROJECT: Advanced control strategy design (locked)
• Redundancy & high availability (locked)
• Historians & asset management (locked)
• Industrial control system cybersecurity (locked)
• PROJECT: Complete plant control architecture (locked)
• PROJECT: Chemical process control simulation (locked)
• LAB // Mini-DCS: cascade + alarms in sim (locked)
• Review & Retention // DCS Systems (locked)
• P1 // Automated sorting/conveyor cell (PLC) (locked)
• P2 // Closed-loop PID process control + SCADA (locked)
• P3 // Networked embedded motor controller (the bridge) (locked)
• P4 // Integrated robot work-cell (the convergence) (locked)
• Hands-on // Git & GitHub (the universal signal layer) (locked)
• Hands-on // Portfolio & README craft (how to present your work) (locked)
• Hands-on // Interview prep (technical + behavioral) (locked)
• Hands-on // Networking & the job search (locked)
• CAPSTONE: HMI + PLC + SCADA cell (locked)
• CAPSTONE: Industrial digital twin (locked)
• TURN 2 // Final Mastery Assessment (locked)
• TURN 1 // Final Mastery Assessment (locked)

All four courses are $240 together, $60 less than buying them one by one.