AI-assisted PLC programming has moved quickly over the last few years. Generic AI tools can already generate Structured Text, explain ladder logic and help troubleshoot automation code.
But Siemens Eigen Engineering Agent is attempting something considerably more ambitious.
Instead of working only with PLC code copied into a chatbot, Eigen connects directly to TIA Portal and works with the context of the actual automation project.
That means it can understand PLC blocks, data structures, HMI screens, hardware, drives and relationships between engineering objects — and in many cases it can perform engineering tasks directly rather than simply telling the engineer what to do. Siemens describes Eigen as a generative AI assistant designed specifically for industrial automation engineering and connected to TIA Portal.
I wanted to see what that means in practice.
So I created a dedicated S7-1500 + WinCC Unified test project, deliberately introduced a PLC programming fault, and gave the project to Eigen without explaining where the problem was.
👉 Watch the complete Siemens Eigen Engineering Agent test on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/InB2PZtrzdY
What is Siemens Eigen Engineering Agent?
Eigen Engineering Agent is Siemens’ purpose-built generative AI system for automation engineering.
It works alongside TIA Portal and lets an engineer communicate with the engineering project using natural language.
Instead of asking:
“Write me some conveyor PLC code.”
you can ask something much more contextual:
“Analyse this project, trace the Motor01 start command through the program and tell me every permissive that can prevent the conveyor from starting.”
Because Eigen has access to the TIA Portal project context, it can work with the actual blocks, tags, UDTs, HMI objects and engineering structure rather than inventing a generic solution. Siemens says this project awareness includes function blocks, user-defined data types, HMI screens and their relationships.
That distinction is potentially very important.
What can Siemens Eigen actually do?
Eigen is much broader than an AI PLC code generator.
Its current capabilities cover several areas of the automation engineering lifecycle.
1. Understand an existing TIA Portal project
One of the most interesting capabilities is project understanding.
Eigen can inspect an unfamiliar TIA Portal project and explain:
- PLC devices
- program structure
- function blocks
- data blocks
- UDTs
- tags
- HMI screens
- relationships between engineering objects
- control sequences
- hardware configuration
This could be particularly useful when inheriting legacy machinery or joining a commissioning project where documentation is incomplete.
Siemens specifically positions this capability as a way for engineers to understand complex or unfamiliar projects more quickly.
This is one of the tests I perform in the video.
I ask Eigen to analyse my conveyor project before giving it any information about how the application was designed.
2. Trace PLC signals and dependencies
Project awareness also opens up a much more interesting troubleshooting workflow.
For example, an engineer can ask Eigen to trace a command from:
WinCC Unified
↓
HMI tag
↓
PLC tag
↓
data block
↓
FC / FB logic
↓
nested function block
↓
physical PLC output
In my test project, I deliberately created a reasonably realistic signal chain rather than putting everything inside one function block.
The idea was simple:
Can Eigen actually follow the architecture, or does it just recognise individual blocks?
This is potentially one of its strongest uses during commissioning and troubleshooting.
3. Generate and modify PLC programs
PLC programming is naturally one of Eigen’s major capabilities.
Siemens documents support for generating and importing PLC code, working with PLC tags, tag tables, constants, UDTs, data blocks, namespaces and software units.
It can help with tasks such as:
- generating new PLC blocks
- adapting existing logic
- adding functionality to existing FBs
- creating PLC tags
- creating data blocks
- working with UDTs
- correcting syntax errors
- correcting compile errors
- documenting existing PLC code
- adding comments
- applying coding standards
- performing mass changes
Supported PLC languages
Eigen supports PLC engineering in languages including:
- SCL / Structured Text
- LAD / Ladder Logic
- FBD / Function Block Diagram, with newer Eigen releases extending its programming capabilities
In the video I ask Eigen to modify an existing conveyor motor rather than simply generating an isolated demo block.
That is a much harder AI problem because it must first understand how the existing software is structured.
4. Troubleshoot PLC logic
This is probably my favourite test.
Before creating the project, I deliberately inserted this incorrect logic:
Run := Start AND Stop;when the intended logic was effectively:
Run := Start AND NOT Stop;I then tell Eigen only:
Motor01 will not start even though the expected permissives appear healthy. Investigate the project and determine the cause. Do not change anything yet.
Eigen therefore has to:
- inspect the project,
- understand the motor logic,
- follow the command path,
- identify the abnormal condition,
- explain the root cause.
Only after the diagnosis do I allow it to modify the PLC program.
This is much closer to a real commissioning scenario than asking AI to write a timer.
5. Generate PLC tests
Eigen can also generate executable PLC test cases.
Siemens documents test generation for SCL and LAD blocks.
A motor-control block could therefore be tested for scenarios such as:
- normal start
- normal stop
- permissive loss
- overload
- fault acknowledgement
- restart after reset
- invalid command combinations
- boundary conditions
AI-generated PLC testing could become particularly valuable if it makes automated testing easier for engineers who currently do most PLC verification manually.
6. WinCC Unified HMI engineering
Eigen is not limited to the PLC.
It also works with WinCC Unified.
Siemens documents capabilities including:
- creating Unified HMI devices
- creating HMI screens
- designing layouts
- adding buttons
- adding I/O fields
- adding graphics
- configuring tag dynamization
- generating JavaScript
- creating dynamic behaviour
- assisting with migration from classic VB scripting to WinCC Unified JavaScript
For my test, I ask Eigen to analyse an existing conveyor motor and build an HMI interface showing values such as:
- Running
- Ready
- Permissive
- Fault
- Speed
- Runtime
- Start count
along with:
- Start
- Stop
- Reset
controls.
This gives us a chance to evaluate something important:
Can AI generate an HMI that is actually useful to an industrial operator?
7. WinCC Unified JavaScript
Because WinCC Unified makes extensive use of JavaScript, Eigen can also generate scripts used for HMI behaviour.
For example:
Add a flashing red border around Motor01 whenever Fault is active. Flash every 500 ms and stop immediately when the fault clears.
Eigen can create the required HMI scripting and dynamization rather than the engineer having to manually create it.
For engineers moving from classic WinCC scripting to Unified, this could be a significant productivity tool.
8. Hardware configuration
Eigen also works beyond PLC and HMI software.
Siemens documents hardware capabilities including:
- adding devices
- deleting devices
- renaming devices
- adding modules
- configuring hardware
- configuring device lists
- handling bulk hardware configuration
Siemens even provides example prompts where Eigen creates an automation system containing an S7-1500 PLC, WinCC Unified HMI, ET200SP remote I/O and multiple drives, then configures PROFINET addressing.
That’s an important distinction between Eigen and generic AI coding tools.
It is intended to operate on the engineering project, not just program source code.
9. PROFINET and network configuration
Eigen can assist with network engineering and PROFINET configuration.
This includes:
- configuring network connections
- assigning devices
- setting up PROFINET topology
- applying IP addressing
- handling device configurations consistently
Siemens describes network configuration and rapid PROFINET setup as one of Eigen’s supported hardware engineering workflows.
10. SINAMICS drive configuration
Drive engineering is another major area.
Eigen can work with SINAMICS drive systems and can assist with:
- adding drives
- adding motors
- adding encoders
- configuring drive parameters
- changing drive parameters
- configuring multiple drives
The current Siemens documentation specifically lists support for several SINAMICS families and parameter configuration workflows.
For machine builders working heavily with Siemens drives, this could potentially remove a lot of repetitive engineering work.
11. Engineering using documents
Eigen is also able to work with uploaded documents.
That enables interesting workflows such as providing:
- functional specifications
- machine descriptions
- coding standards
- requirement documents
- hardware/device lists
and asking Eigen to use those documents while engineering the TIA Portal project.
For example, Siemens provides sample prompts that ask Eigen to generate LAD code from a process-description PDF while following a separate PLC coding-style document.
This is potentially much closer to how real engineering projects actually start.
12. Coding standards and project documentation
Eigen can also assist with maintaining engineering quality.
Capabilities include:
- coding-style checks
- automatic documentation
- adding comments
- explaining legacy code
- mass adaptations across PLC objects
- preparing components for reuse
This may ultimately be as valuable as code generation itself.
Generating another function block is useful.
Getting an AI system to analyse hundreds of existing blocks and check whether they comply with your company’s programming standard could save significantly more engineering time.
13. Project translation
Eigen can translate PLC and HMI project text between languages.
That could be useful for:
- multilingual HMIs
- projects transferred between engineering teams
- international machine deployments
- documentation
- comments and descriptions
Siemens includes translation as part of Eigen’s project-management capabilities.
14. ECAD integration
One of the newer Eigen capabilities moves AI further upstream in the engineering process.
Siemens announced support for reading electrical-design information including XML and AML.
Eigen can use this information to:
- detect inconsistencies
- add devices to TIA Portal
- configure connections
- create PLC tags
- align automation software with the electrical hardware topology
This could eventually reduce one of the classic problems in automation projects:
the electrical design and PLC project slowly becoming two different versions of the machine.
15. Generate projects using the Siemens Automation Framework
Siemens has also extended Eigen towards generating structured automation projects from machine descriptions.
An engineer can describe:
- machine stations
- equipment
- behaviour
- structure
and Eigen can use the Siemens Automation Framework to create a standards-based TIA Portal project structure.
This moves Eigen beyond being a programming assistant towards something closer to an automation engineering agent.
16. Planning mode and multi-step engineering
Perhaps the biggest conceptual difference is its agentic architecture.
Instead of performing only one prompt → one answer operations, Eigen can reason about larger engineering tasks consisting of multiple steps.
Siemens describes the system as capable of multi-step reasoning, execution and self-correction.
For the final challenge in my video, I ask Eigen to:
Extend the existing conveyor project with Conveyor02, reuse the existing architecture, create PLC objects and simulation signals, implement interlocking, add HMI tags and visualization and compile the resulting project.
That’s much closer to assigning a small engineering task to another engineer than asking a chatbot for a piece of code.
Is Eigen replacing PLC programmers?
I don’t think that is currently the most useful way to look at it.
The interesting question is:
How much engineering work can an experienced controls engineer delegate to an AI agent while still remaining responsible for the design?
There are still important limitations.
Siemens itself states that complete syntactic and semantic correctness of AI-generated PLC code cannot be guaranteed and that engineers must check generated results.
That is exactly how I would approach a tool like this.
Use it to:
- investigate
- generate
- refactor
- document
- test
- accelerate repetitive work
but keep the engineer responsible for validating what ultimately controls the machine.
TIA Portal versions supported by Eigen
Siemens currently lists support for:
- TIA Portal V19 Update 5 or later
- TIA Portal V20 Update 4 or later
- TIA Portal V21
Eigen is delivered as a SaaS solution and connects the local engineering environment with Siemens’ cloud-based service.
A one-month trial is currently available through Siemens Digital Exchange.
My Siemens Eigen Engineering Agent test
Rather than simply reading Siemens’ feature list, I wanted to test Eigen against something measurable.
So the Antomatix test project contains:
- Siemens S7-1500
- TIA Portal V21
- WinCC Unified
- structured conveyor PLC architecture
- multiple DBs
- nested function blocks
- HMI interface
- simulation interface
- deliberately unused overload signal
- one deliberately hidden PLC programming fault
- only Conveyor01, allowing Eigen to later design Conveyor02 itself
This lets me test whether Eigen can genuinely understand and modify an unfamiliar engineering project.
Watch the complete test
👉 Watch Siemens Eigen Engineering Agent Tested – AI Inside TIA Portal on YouTube
[YOUTUBE_VIDEO_URL]
In the video you’ll see Eigen attempt:
- project analysis,
- PLC signal tracing,
- hidden-fault diagnosis,
- PLC code correction,
- existing block modification,
- FBD generation,
- WinCC Unified engineering,
- JavaScript generation,
- PLC test generation,
- autonomous multi-step project expansion.
Final thoughts
Eigen Engineering Agent represents a significant change in how AI is being introduced into industrial automation.
The impressive part isn’t simply that it can generate PLC code.
We already have AI systems capable of doing that.
The important difference is project context.
Eigen can potentially understand the surrounding automation architecture — PLC software, HMI, devices, drives, networks and engineering relationships — and perform work directly within that environment.
That’s a much more interesting proposition for professional automation engineers.
Whether it becomes an everyday engineering tool will ultimately depend on reliability, engineering quality and how much supervision remains necessary.
But it is already clear that AI in automation engineering is moving beyond:
“Write me an SCL function block.”
towards:
“Understand this machine and help me engineer it.”
And that is a much bigger change.
FAQ
What is Siemens Eigen Engineering Agent?
Eigen Engineering Agent is Siemens’ generative AI-powered engineering assistant for TIA Portal. It can understand project context and assist with PLC software, WinCC Unified HMI engineering, hardware, networks, drives, testing and documentation.
Can Siemens Eigen write PLC code?
Yes. Siemens documents PLC code generation and adaptation capabilities, including SCL and LAD programming, PLC tags, UDTs and data blocks.
Can Eigen create WinCC Unified HMI screens?
Yes. Eigen can create Unified screens and screen elements and generate JavaScript and tag dynamization for HMI behaviour.
Can Eigen configure Siemens drives?
Yes. Eigen supports SINAMICS engineering including drive, motor, encoder and parameter configuration for supported drive families.
Does Eigen understand an existing TIA Portal project?
Yes. Project-context retrieval is one of Eigen’s central features. Siemens says it can understand project objects and relationships including function blocks, UDTs and HMI screens.
Can Eigen replace an automation engineer?
Eigen can automate and accelerate many engineering tasks, but Siemens explicitly advises engineers to check AI-generated PLC results because complete syntactic and semantic correctness is not guaranteed.
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