What is Industry 4.0?
As little as 15 years ago, in 2005, the world was a whole different place than what we see today! Blackberry phones were the standard of excellence in “smart phones”, YouTube was just launched on the internet, and people were excited that we were only a decade away from flying cars as predicted by Back to the Future 2! Today, the world is a lot more connected, smartphones are more powerful and popular than most computers, and we took a detour to get autonomous cars before going for flying cars!
These advancements are in one way or another a part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0. Why 4.0? Well there have been three major technological revolutions in recent human history:
Industry 1.0- First came the era of the steam engine and mechanization to the world of manufacturing.
Industry 2.0- Second was a well known time of mass production and the assembly line, often associated with production at the Ford Motor company.
Industry 3.0- This one is special because this is when the world got the gift of the computers and the internet… and the world just began seeing the power of automation.
Industry 4.0- And today we are witnessing yet another revolution, but it resonates across all aspects of our lives, not just industry and manufacturing. This revolution will last for decades to come and it will focus connecting machines to machines and humans to machines in an unimaginable way.
Industry 4.0 is the next phase of computation and automation. This is where machines will speak with each other, think for themselves, predictive data analysis will give way to prescriptive analysis, all manner of “smart” devices will be introduced every year, and the world will be more connected than ever. Not only that but similar to industry 3.0, this will have a massive impact on the way human beings live on a daily basis. Strictly speaking, Industry 4.0 encompasses the technology in business, especially manufacturing. But the true impact and potential of the revolution can only be fully understood if we observe the changes felt in daily life as well.
Autonomous vehicle development is an area that is widely popular today and can help us understand the true essence of Industry 4.0. We have heard of autonomous vehicles in some form for a while now. It first began with the cars you can back out of a tight parking spot or your garage with a touch of a button. Then we saw self-parking cars that eventually could parallel park as well. Then came in Tesla to change the game with their auto-pilot system, which took some time to get to where it is today. But now we are on the verge of a major change with autonomous trucks, which will replace an entire industry at some point over the next two decades. Our way of life will change as part of the fourth industrial revolution…it is just a matter of time. That being said, I am here to document these exciting and revolutionary changes in any form that I observe them in.
