05/2016 Los Angeles

The Fourth
Industrial Revolution

Below are some thoughts on how technology will change and how mega trends such as 3D printing, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Autonomous Driving, and IoT will come into view over the next decade.

The Fourth industrial revolution

We are facing a technological revolution that will significantly influence our lives, our work and even more so, our landscape. This transformation will be unlike anything we have experienced before. The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab is a continuation of the digital revolution and is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. The main difference to all previous technological revolutions is that if one thing changes the whole system needs to change to keep up.

Automotive Industry

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford
Henry Ford changed the face of industry forever by creating the continuously moving assembly line. With the rise of automobile mass production the world has changed in several profound ways, including facilitating and expediting transportation and travel, enabling movement of populations from cities to suburbs and even improving economies.

Today, Autonomous technology will influence our landscape more significantly than the invention of the automobile itself. The fusion of technologies will change exponentially rather than linearly. Here is what we can expect:

  • Full autonomous drving cars by 2020 and democracy of driving (for certain areas no driver licence needed)
  • Traffic and parking management via vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to X communication
  • Crash-proof cars before 2020 and advanced collision detection via vehicle to vehicle communication
  • Car subscription service models will recplace the traditional ownership model
  • Luxury mini fleet and mega fleet services of driverless cars such as Uber, Lyft and Didi will replace plublic transportation
  • Face and voice recognition enables a digital profile to transfer from home to car and work (and more) in order to create a seamless user experience
  • In-vehicle context sensitive and geo-based advertising augmented on windshields
  • Crowd-sourced charging stations allow charging anytime and anywhere
  • Partial battery swap systems will charge EV's in less than 5 minutes


  • Rolls Royce Vision Next 100 Concept
    



    Transportation

    "Data enables innovative transportation options, such as car-sharing, ride-sharing, and pop-up bus services, and more rapid delivery of goods," - Ford at CES 2016, great news for the environment and infrastructure budgeting. By 2045, the U.S. economy is forecast to grow by 115% to $36.7 trillion. The transportation sector will represent about $1.6 trillion of total Gross Domestic Product. In order to manage this challenge the FAA started the NextGen air traffic control project to route planes more efficiently. Future transportation will come in many forms, sooner than we think.

  • WiFi available everywhere
  • Fastline with induction charging to charge EV's while driving
  • Advanced GPS-based landing approaches for airplanes to shave mintues off of flights
  • Fully autonomous airplanes
  • Urban transport pods or 'swarm vehicles', that outperform conventional transportation and move on a pre-described route
  • Autonomous car-size drones for single passengers without a pilot onboard
  • Zeppelin renaissance hybrid air vehicles to carry cargo
  • Black boxes for drones, cars, and trains to record information in the event of an accident
  • Ultra high-speed tube transportation such as Hyperloop with speeds over 800 mph


  • Australian Outback features the unobtrusive hyperloop — rendering
    



    Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    In the 2013 movie "Her," actor Joaquin Phoenix's character falls in love with his smartphone operating system, "Samantha," a computer-based personal assistant who becomes sentient. Technology will take on increasingly personal roles in people's daily lives, and will learn human habits and predict people's needs.

  • Weather prediction, AI will analyze available data to understand weather phenomena and issue the corresponding early warnings
  • Tackling Household Chores, line robots that perform boring or repetitive tasks
  • Robots to perform mining, fire-fighting, mine disposal and handling radioactive materials, alll tasks that are too dangerous for humans
  • Autonomous transportation, AI to shift responsibility away from a distracted driver and its reaction time
  • AI technology to help scientists react more quickly to emergencies during manned flights
  • Home alarm systems that use AI to distinguish between occupants and unknown persons
  • Robotic doctors to diagnose patients or warn doctors of potential risk factors with medications designed especially for primary care physicians
  • New breed, a being that's developed beyond the current human state to enjoy a higher level of reasoning, culture and physical capabilities


  • Joaquin Phoenix in HER movie directed by Spike Jonze. ILLUSTRATION BY OWEN FREEMAN
    



    Internet of Things

    The Internet of Things is the network of physical devices, vehicles, and buildings embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and actuators designed to communicate with users as well as other devices. New architectural approaches for better perfoming platforms, faster and safer event stream processing and advanced security will change the IoT in the comming tears. - wikipedia

  • Smart textile and skin tattoo to control and personalize devices, apps and services
  • Smart connected living space to self-adjust and optimize comfort
  • User authentication systems that use unique biometric data such as fingerprint, iris and/or facial recognition and voice control
  • Smart stain algorithms and connected laundry machines to automate wash cycles, detergent dosages, water temperature and load managing to optimize fabric-care
  • Smart trash and recycle management that will signal how and what to recycle
  • Next genaration of IoT networks to track each item and usage to create a complete highly personalized network and experience


  • Project Jacquard makes it possible to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile using standard, industrial looms
    



    Virtual/Augmented Reality

    Virtual reality (or VR) is a computer technology that replicates an environment, real or imagined, and simulates a user's physical presence and environment to allow for user interaction with this environment. Virtual realities artificially create sensory experiences, which can include sight, touch, hearing, and smell. Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real world with a simulated one. - wikipedia

  • Fully immersive VR theme park experince that puts users into an alternate reality that they can not only see and hear but feel, smell and walk through
  • Virtual reality will get more physical by using controllers equipped with sensors that allow players to swing and move objects virtually
  • Advanced 3D and real full-length movie pictures, sports and TV shows
  • Physical and psychological therapy done through Virtual/Augmented Reality
  • VR vacation and spa trips, including speed dating and adult content
  • Growing number of world wide accessible next generation VR universities and classromms to educate and train
  • VR will be used to sell real estate world wide
  • AR tours to design living and work space
  • VR and AI as creative tools for rapid prototyping for car manufactures and other industries


  • THE VOID Utilizing a layering of real-time interactive environments, and blending the real world with the digital, our participants are placed into our Hyper-Reality experiences.
    



    3D Printing

    3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), are processes used to synthesize a three-dimensional object in which successive layers of material are formed under computer control to create the object. These objects can be of almost any shape or geometry and are produced from digital model data 3D model or other electronic data source such as an Additive Manufacturing File (AMF) file. - wikipedia

  • Makeup printing to apply the exact makeup pattern requested by the user
  • Localized production for consumer and industrial goods closer to you to will make it much more convenient, affordable, and efficient to satisfy our household needs and wants
  • Applying 3D printing concepts to nanotechnology will make nanofabrication faster and more efficient, and therefore economically viable much sooner than most futurists ever envisioned
  • Goal-Directed Design: Combining 3D printing’s unlimited shape and material customization with powerful computing will lead to designs that no human could possibly have imagined
  • 4D printing: With this new technology, you print a 3D object that at some future point can automatically self-assemble or change shape when confronted with a change in its environment, such as temperature or moisture.
  • Self-Assemble 3D printing is a process by which disordered parts build an ordered structure through local interaction


  • Goal directed design using 3D printing and Autodesk’s Dreamcatcher software
    



    Space Exploration. Next stop, Mars

    Artificial intelligence and robots will play a major role in space travel in the not-so-distant future. NASA already depends on unmanned shuttles, rovers and probes to explore distant galaxies that would take years for humans to reach. Autonomous land rovers have recently given researchers a treasure trove of data and photographs collected from the Martian surface, where inhospitable conditions make human exploration impossible. These smart vehicles sense obstacles, like craters, and find safe paths of travel around them before returning to the shuttle. AI technology will also help scientists react more quickly to emergencies during manned flights by allowing space-borne astronauts to spot and prevent problems before they happen. - wikipedia

  • Astrobotics and autonomous fleets to mine and deposit regolith on Mars and other planets
  • Journey on a space capsule for space tourists
  • Mars City missions to design sustainable cities on Mars
  • Terraformed Mars represents an unlimited future for human endeavor
  • 3D printing and robots to fabricate giant structures such as antennas and solar arrays to use in the search for extra-terrestrial life
  • Growing a space city organically in zero gravity
  • Prepping the human body for long-distance space travel
  • Exploring Venus with inflatable "habitats" by using Zeppelin-like pods


  • Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office of New York, New York, Mars Ice House.
    



    Big Data

    Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy. Accuracy in big data may lead to more confident decision making, and better decisions can result in greater operational efficiency, cost reduction and reduced risk. Big Date is a big opportunity for education on the power of information and wil. - wikipedia

  • Banking: Monitoring financial market activity by using netwrok analytics and natural language processing to catch illegal trading activity
  • Communications, media & entertainment: Detailed sentiment analysis on user flow and behaviors and preferences to understand patterns of real-time, media content usage
  • Healthcare: Big Data to create visual data that allows faster identification and efficient anaylsis of healthcare information to track the spread of diseases
  • Manufacturing & Natural Resources: Enhancement in supply chain capabilties from Big Data being used to increase productivity
  • Food: Big Data to detect and study patterns of food-related illnesses and diseases to allow faster response and treatment
  • Transportation: Traffic control, routing planning, intelligent transport system congestion management, logistic and revenue management for freight movement
  • Energy & Utilities: Analyze data of utilitlies to improve customer feedback and control of utility usage


  • Data visualisation of a social network
    



    -Dré Nitze-Nelson | 安德烈 尼采-纳尔逊

    Dir. UX/UI IconMobile 05/2016 Los Angeles