This Bachelor’s thesis has been made on the behalf of the Power Tools unit at Mirka Ltd. Mirka is a world leader in surface finishing technology, and the Power Tools unit belongs to the research and development department and develops inter alia sanding and polishing machines.

The purpose of this Bachelor’s thesis was to automate a type of load test with a test robot, where the goal is to run sanding and polishing machines at a constant specific load during a specific time period. Formerly you constantly were compelled to oversee the load test perpetually and manually adjust the load with a throttle to achieve steady load, however, with the automation this problem will be eliminated.

This Bachelor’s thesis consists of investigating different solutions, choosing a solution, acquiring necessary equipment and implementation.

The result is a working solution with a PID controller programmed into the test robots existing Omron CP1H PLC. In the Bachelor’s thesis there is also a proposal of possible further development.