Industry 4.0: Beyond Disruption

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will blur the lines between the physical, biological and the digital worlds. It will fundamentally change the way we live, work and relate to one another. Are we prepared? 

- Sangita Thakur Varma & Vartika Rawat

Imagine a world where you are transported to the store of your choice, anytime anywhere in the universe, just by putting on a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD). Far fetched? Of course, you have experienced the immersive delights of gaming with such a device,

something like the 3D TV ads, where the characters seem to leap out of the TV set. But walking through the store virtually somewhere in New York or Singapore! Really! Now imagine a scenario, not far in the future where finance is run over by bots. Real time reports, virtual consultations, tax assessments on the web, virtual banking, every aspect of finance is automated. It requires quite a stretch of imagination, but then welcome to the “phygital world”. Experience Technologist, Taran J Singh recreates just such a world, where the lines between digital and physical spaces are blurred and where human experiences are analytics created and measured with emerging technology.

When did we move into this world of bit coins or virtual currency, electronic payments, the Internet of Things, Big Data, artificial intelligence, and a host of other technologies that we have taken for granted? Human world has been evolving right from the time of our much disputed primate ancestors. From animal power to horsepower to digital beginning at the start of 1970s as we entered the third industrial revolution, we have come a long way. Today, we stand at the brink of yet another transformative phase. This emerging phase is powered by the Third Revolution world of applied electronics, information technology, mass line processes production, micro chip magic, etc. In the ongoing Third Industrial Revolution era, futuristic technologies like 3D printing and mass customization are yet in the nascent stage and to be visualized fully. Even as fast paced technological advances leave us a bit befuddled, vaster changes are sweeping the world.