Yeah, it's a pretty neat ecosystem. PLCs are kinda like the Legos of automation, incredibly easy to mix and match with a fair number of (insecure) standard protocols.

I briefly toyed with the idea of building out some open source hardware/software but I didn't really seem like there was enough of a userbase to make it viable. Anyone using it professionally wants support and 10+ years of parts, most maker/hobby projects want direct access to code.

Still some pretty neat concepts for putting together highly customized processes with extensible and interchangeable hardware.