The goal of the thesis is to investigate and propose a new design for a contactor platform, both in terms of hardware and embedded software, which incorporates support to implement new state-of-the-art functions. The platform must support a wide range of contactors from basic ones with only core functions to advanced contactors using modern microcontrollers to provide efficient, quick and reliable operation.   Further, a significant focus of the thesis is on the interaction between electrical engineering and computer engineering. The electronics needs to interact seamlessly with a microcontroller running a versatile software to provide industry-leading performance. To achieve this, the software and hardware is evaluated with focus to develop an optimal platform.   The proposed embedded software uses development techniques rarely used in embedded applications such as UML code generation, compile-time initiation of objects and an object-oriented design, while maintaining the performance of traditional embedded programming. The thesis also provides suggestions to hardware changes to further improve to the contactor’s operation.