Edge Link brings old factory machines online with Arduino — no risky rewiring needed

The industrial world lags behind consumer tech by decades: reliability and safety trump novelty, so even new factories rely on control systems that are years old. Engineer Mukesh Sankhla created Edge Link, a DIY device that upgrades legacy equipment without dangerous modifications to the machinery itself.

Edge Link is a small unit that snaps onto a standard DIN rail inside any electrical cabinet. It communicates with older machines and controllers through industrial protocols like Modbus and RS-485, both reading sensor data and sending control commands — though the exact capabilities depend on the specific equipment.

At its simplest, Edge Link acts as an IoT gateway. It logs operational data and makes it available over the network, letting facility managers monitor machine status remotely. If the equipment supports it, the same channel allows for remote control: for example, starting a production line before the morning shift arrives. Sensor readings travel via MQTT messages, and all data is organized through a structured Unified Namespace (UNS). That means Edge Link integrates smoothly into existing dashboards and cloud platforms, without requiring a separate data pipeline.

The real intelligence comes from the onboard Arduino UNO Q board, which gives Edge Link enough computing power to process data locally. This enables on-site analytics — filtering, alerting, or simple logic — without sending every reading to the cloud. The solution is designed for the DIY community and plant engineers who want to bring old equipment into the modern network with minimal cost and risk. Edge Link is open-source, and Sankhla has published the hardware design and software, so anyone can build or adapt it for their own factory floor.