Cyber-physical Systems
One of the Industry 4.0 technologies is cyber-physical systems, which combine computer and mechanical technologies and are also known as mechatronics. They are instrumental in the creation of systems that are as autonomous as possible. They include the initial steps towards driverless cars, such as the Google Car, as well as the Rover that is currently discovering Mars. Although the Mars Rover is managed from a control centre, it is still an autonomous device. Due to the time it takes to transmit a signal from Earth to Mars, the Rover cannot be piloted with “normal” remote control. The Rover’s local sensors observe its surroundings and its software analyses the resulting data, takes decisions and gives driving commands that are executed by the mechanical parts. These concepts have already been implemented in the parking assistance and collision prevention functions in certain cars. The major features of cyber-physical systems clearly include sensors that observe their surroundings and embedded software to autonomously monitor and drive the system.
The second technology inherent in Industry 4.0 is the internet of things. The idea behind this is that devices can be interconnected via the internet and communicate with each other.
The result
The result is more autonomy and smart production processes that can control and regulate themselves. The advantages include manufacturing process optimisation that goes beyond Lean Manufacturing, along with the avoidance of damage and accidents due to the timely detection of problems and risks. This is already a familiar concept in IT with self-healing systems, in which any errors that arise are detected and resolved by the system itself. The Industry 4.0 initiative is designed to carry this concept over to things like production processes on the meta level and products themselves on the instance level. An example would be the creation of a 3D replicator seen as a production process whose end product is the 3D replicator.
There is a long way to go before we achieve Industry 4.0. There are still difficulties in mastering security and managing the volume of communications and data. Security is clearly the top priority. It covers two main aspects: the reliability of the embedded software and protection from hacking. One only needs to imagine a system failure in a driverless car going at 130km/h on a motorway, or a cyber-attack on a production site in full operation! As for the management and analysis of very large data volumes, this is covered by the term “big data”, for which new technologies and processes are currently appearing on the market in very fast innovation cycles. These problems appear to be relatively easy to resolve.
