A breakthrough in engineering.
Siemens has developed a tool that is not merely a consultant, but one that independently designs, programs, and monitors automation tasks.
The Eigen Engineering Agent was created specifically for industrial automation engineering work. The German word “eigen” (“own”) in the name refers both to the fact that the tool generates customized output for every project and to the fact that it provides stable, reliable intelligence in a rapidly changing AI environment.
Directly integrated with the Siemens TIA Portal engineering platform, the tool can write PLC code (which controls equipment), create HMI (human-machine interface) visualizations, and configure devices—all while taking into account the full context of the specific project. It doesn’t simply make suggestions: it performs the task, then independently checks its own work, and refines the result until it meets the specified quality criteria.
Based on pilot tests conducted at more than 100 companies, this results in work that is two to five times faster than manual workflows and a 50 percent increase in engineering efficiency, while also achieving an 80 percent higher quality of solutions.
Two New Features
The company has now introduced two new features related to the system.
One of them is so-called ECAD integration. Until now, electrical design and automation software development took place sequentially in separate tools. Engineers had to manually transfer parts lists, correct differing naming conventions, and search for traces of late hardware modifications. The Eigen Engineering Agent can now directly read electrical schematic files (in XML and AML formats), detect and resolve inconsistencies, and automatically generate PLC data in TIA Portal based on the electrical topology.
Another new feature is standards-compliant project generation. Every automation project begins with engineers breaking down the machine into modules, naming the units, building the data structure, and defining state transitions. This can take days—and even experienced teams are prone to errors. With this new capability, an engineer provides a description of the machine in simple, natural language (stations, devices, behavior), and the agent generates a complete, standardized project within a few minutes that can be opened immediately in TIA Portal.
The goal here is not to replace engineers, but to shorten repetitive, error-prone phases. This allows experts to focus on complex, system-level decisions rather than data transfer and project setup.
Eigen Engineering Agent is part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio and represents one implementation of the "automation of automation" vision. You can try the system with a free 1-month trial.