Industry 4.0: Machines are doing their thing, please wait..

The fourth phase of the Industrial Revolution mostly depends on emerging machines and technologies like 5G, IoT, AI-ML. It is extremely relevant and increasingly important in every sector for many reasons. Because, if organisations fail to adopt technology, they will fall behind in operations in comparison to their digitized competitors. Further, we are only on the brink of the new Industrial Revolution, waiting for machines to take over. So, it will be safe to say that we are in and out of a future where machines will make more machines to ease human life now.

In the previous revolutions, machines like the phone, plane, radio, television etc drove the world. The Industry 4.0 revolution has seen/will see more Convergence IT-related innovations. As we are inching towards a more automated world, machines like robots and tools like 3D Printing, IoT, Big Data and AI-ML and AR-VR have taken centre stage.

The importance of Industry 4.0 (the advent of smart machines)

There are several reasons why the world is rapidly moving to Industry 4.0 changes. Firstly, the industry will attain cost efficiency with the increased use of machines. They will have better preventive and maintenance strategies. Advanced operational technology will help manufacturers decrease downtime, increase throughput, and overall, reduce the cost of supplying quality parts. Researchers can improve R&D through effective and nearly accurate results provided through a machine.

Further, many industries will see data in a new limelight. Even though it is widely acknowledged that Data is the New Oil, machines will make it easier to democratize data. Not just within an organization, but also on different levels and sectors to enable better decision making. With ever involving digitization, the cloud can store and facilitate nearly a limitless amount of data. From training to optimisation, data and building advanced algorithms with historical data, the option to build solutions with Industry 4.0 will go far and wide.

The initial goals of Industry 4.0 typically are automation, (manufacturing) process improvement and productivity/production optimization. Its more mature goals are innovation and the transition to new business models and revenue sources with information and services as cornerstones.

Notable Machines That Will Power Industry 4.0

3D Printing

3D Printing Industry has suddenly seen a rise amidst the coronavirus pandemic. People all over the world are domestically printing masks. Companies have reduced their manufacturing and taken up to produce PPEs for medical health professionals. 3D Printing is the new era of IoT development aimed to transform manufacturing. Here’s how it is being leveraged towards medical gears. Not one, but many companies are into this space.

Read More: From Face Shields to Ventilators and Nasal Swabs, 3D Printing is changing the Medical Scenario

Apple Self Driving Cars

Project Titan for Apple began in the year 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook in late 2014 assigned the project to Vice President Steve Zadesky, a former Ford engineer as project in-charge. For the project, Apple also hired Johann Jungwirth, the former president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America. At that time, around 5000 employees were working in the department to build a self0driving passenger vehicle. For our reference, let’s call it iCar. The Project aimed to revolutionise the automobile sector and who better than the tech giant with its resources – financial as well human.

Read More: Does Apple have the tech to build self-driving passenger vehicles?

Audi Smart Factory

Audi is making its production fit for the future with the smart factory. The factory will facilitate data‑driven and thus highly flexible and highly efficient manufacturing. The company says that the factory is factory of the future, big data as it focuses on the creation and intelligent connection of large volumes of data. The factory might disable assembly line produvtion of cars. It focuses on modular assembly. In addition to this major project, Audi is pursuing many other exciting projects for the production of the future – from the application of virtual‑reality glasses to metal 3D printing.

NASA RoboGlove

Researchers at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in collaboration with General Motors (GM) have designed and developed Robo-Glove. It is a wearable human grasp assist device, to help reduce the grasping force needed by an individual to operate tools for an extended time or when performing tasks having repetitive motion. Robo-Glove has the potential to help workers, such as construction workers, hazardous material workers, or assembly line operators, whose job requires continuous grasping and ungrasping motion. The Robo-Glove also has potential applications in prosthetic devices, rehabilitation aids, and people with impaired or limited arm and hand muscle strength. This NASA Technology is available for your company to license and develop into a commercial product. NASA does not manufacture products for commercial sale.

Reliance Jio VR Glasses

This may not be first of its kind, because Google’s Daydream View VR headset and Facebook’s Oculus Go are some of the big names in the space. They had a lot of fan following, but they struggled to keep it up. But, Jio Glass aims to bring the real and the digital world together. It gives a peek into the future where the movies from the 1940s showed us how 2020 would look like.

Imagine being in a room, connecting over with people who are visible to you inside your spectacles? That is some futuristic stuff. Although the company did not exactly specify how it will work, it is the talk of the town. They demonstrated how this will help schools and business with classes and meetings respectively. User will be able to create a 3D virtual room where others can join and conduct a class or a meeting. Using these 3D virtual rooms, the users will be able to use holographic images of self, showcase graphs and other presentations.

Read More: Jio Glass just gave us major Iron Man’s “E.D.I.T.H” feels: Here’s why

ABB Cobots

ABB is expanding its collaborative robot (cobot) portfolio with the new GoFa and SWIFTI cobot families, offering higher payloads and speeds. ABB’s cobot portfolio expansion is engineered to help existing and new robot users accelerate automation amid four key megatrends including individualized consumers, labor shortages, digitalization and uncertainty that are transforming business and driving automation into new sectors of the economy. The expansion follows the Business Area’s focus on high-growth segments through portfolio innovation, helping to drive profitable growth.

Battery Smart EV Car Battery Change Stations

Founded in 2020, Battery Smart is building India’s largest network of battery swapping stations providing Li-ion batteries on a pay-per-use basis for the drivers of three-wheeled electric rickshaws through their asset-light network of partner swap stations. The Battery Smart team has developed a retrofittable Li-ion battery-as-a-service solution for the E-rickshaw drivers. It provides them with a two-minute battery swapping facility. Its mission is to power 1 million electric vehicles for everyday mobility by 2024 with their battery swapping technology.

The current market opportunity for Li-ion battery swapping of e-rickshaws is $2.25 billion (growing at 16% CAGR). The projected market opportunity for Li-ion battery swapping of electric 2W in India is $6 billion (by 2024).

Organovo 3D Bioprinting Technology

The most well-known tissue engineering company is the San Diego-based company, Organovo. It has been actively developing a line of human tissues for use in medical research and drug discovery. These include both normal tissues and specially designed disease models. They are also working on the development of specific tissues for use in clinical patient care.

In 2014, they announced the successful printing of the liver tissue that functioned as a real liver for weeks. A year later, fully functional human kidney tubular tissues were generated with the company’s 3D bioprinter. Organovo also teamed up with L’Oreal to advance the development of synthetic skin. Moreover, the company’s first bioprinted products are expected to make it to the FDA in 2018.

Digital Assistants

It’s easy to confuse digital assistants with chatbots—and, in fact, a digital assistant is an advanced type of chatbot. But they handle advanced funsction that simulates a conversation with the people who use it, typically over the internet. Today, because of rapid advancements in technology, most mobile digital assistants can do more than that. They also schedule calendar events, manage emails, to do lists, files, etc. Some of the digital assistants can do concierge type tasks and provide some information based on voice-based inputs. Some major digital assistants are Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana, Amazon Alexa, etc.