Page 8 - trends in automation
Basic HTML Version
Interview
(R)Evolution 4.0
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster,
one of the world’s leading experts in artificial
intelligence, gives us a glimpse into the industrial processes of the future. In the world of
“Industry 4.0”, machines will understand their environment and communicate with one
another using the Internet Protocol. The first factories of the new industrial evolution are set
to begin operation in just five years’ time.
trends in automation:
Prof. Wahlster, we often hear the
term “Industry 4.0” being mentioned in expert discussions
and specialist media. In the future, machines will be able
to communicate with one another and thus revolutionise
conventional industrial production. Are we actually heading
towards a fourth industrial revolution, as many commentators
believe?
Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster:
Yes, cyber physical production
systems will revolutionise conventional manufacturing logic,
as the individual workpiece will work out itself which services
it requires from the plant. This entirely new architecture for
production systems can be implemented gradually through the
digital upgrading of existing production facilities, which means
that the concept can be realised not only in completely new
factories, but also rolled out step-by-step in existing factories
in an evolutionary process. In the current Industry 3.0, we are
already seeing signs of the imminent change from rigid central
industrial control to decentralised intelligence. Vast numbers
of sensors are recording their environment with incredible
precision and are making their own decisions in embedded
processor systems, independently of a central production
control system. The only things missing right now are
comprehensive wireless networking of the components, the
permanent exchange of information, the merging of different
sensor evaluations for the identification of complex events and
critical states and their situation dependent interpretation, as
well as further action planning based on these findings.
Why does industrial production need such a high degree of
networking of intelligent machines?
Wahlster:
In today’s factories, huge volumes of data are being
produced by an ever increasing number of measuring points.
These are handled easily by machines, but humans can no
longer process them at the same pace. It is therefore useful
if machines can communicate with one another in certain
areas of production. Many processes can be made more
efficient, flexible and cost effective by creating instrumented
environments. Extremely small, low cost wireless sensors are
distributed throughout a production plant, allowing objects
to register their environment and communicate wirelessly.
Several different types of technical sensor, such as opto-
electrical sensors, pressure, temperature and infrared sensors,
work together to create an overall picture of the situation,
sensing what is currently going on in their environment.
In the world of “Industry 4.0”, products and production facilities
will become active system components, controlling their own
production and logistics. They will contain cyber-physical
systems that link the cyberspace of the Internet with the
real physical world. However, they are different from current
mechatronic systems as they have the ability to interact with
their environment, plan and adapt their own behaviour to
suit their environment and learn new behavioural patterns
and strategies and thus be self optimising. They allow even
the smallest of batches with rapid product changes and
a large number of variants to be produced efficiently.
Embedded sensor/actuator components, machine-to-machine
communication and active semantic product memories are
giving rise to new optimisation methods in order to conserve
resources in industrial environments. This will facilitate
About the person
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult.
Wolfgang Wahlster
The Doctor of Computer Science is a researcher and
lecturer in the area of artificial intelligence at the
Saarland University. Wolfgang Wahlster is CEO and
Technical and Scientific Managing Director of the
German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen and Berlin.
As a member of the Federal Government’s research
alliance and Chairman of the highest advisory body
in the European Union on the Internet of the future
(FI-PPP programme), he advises Europe’s political
decision makers. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wahlster is one
of the world’s leading experts in the area of artificial
intelligence. He is a winner of the Federal President’s
German Future Award for his research work.
