PLCWorld: Benchmarking LLM-Generated PLC Programs in Closed-Loop Plant Simulation

Yunji Kim, Yunseok Lee, Hyunwoo Seo, Jaerim Choi, Woojin Lee

Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) coordinate industrial equipment by reading sensor inputs and issuing control commands. Evaluating whether large language model (LLM)-generated PLC programs satisfy task requirements and safety constraints requires observing how their commands affect device and workpiece states. We introduce PLCWorld, a common closed-loop execution environment and benchmark that couples Structured Text (ST) execution with simulated plant responses and sensor feedback. Grounded in control relations identified in industrial PLC programs and engineering documentation, PLCWorld contains 100 synthetic tasks and 473 registered task-condition pairs across Motion Control and Material Handling, with difficulty defined by control-dependency scope. A common protocol reports Task Success and Safety Violation separately. Validation combines practitioner review, reference and alternative programs, targeted counterexamples, specification-evaluator alignment checks, and comparisons with independent ST runtimes. Reference and alternative programs satisfy their applicable cases, while all 542 targeted counterexamples activate their designated evaluator rules under at least one…