March, 2018


www.us-tech.com


Mega Trends from CES and productronica


By Philip Stoten (@philipstoten)


throughout the year. Just six weeks after produc- tronica in Munich, it was rare to have conversations at both shows that had so much in common. Opening press day at CES heralded two


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major highlights. The first was a presentation by Steve Koenig, the Consumer Technology Associa- tion’s director of research. The other, was CES Un- veiled, a geekfest for startup innova- tors and a preview of Eureka Park on the exhibit floor. Koenig’s presentation set the


scene for the show and suggested what will drive the industry in the coming months. As well as impressive stats that predict solid growth, he pre- sented his top three ingredient tech- nologies that would enable the most groundbreaking technologies to come. This year’s three ingredients are


artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and ro- botics. Two of those three were major topics of conversation at productroni- ca, with AI perhaps the most dis- cussed at both shows.


AI, 5G and Robotics This year, expect to see massive


advancements in AI. Baidu Group president Qi Lu spoke about how the company was pivoting from a search business to become an AI business, developing and building open plat- forms for every application. The com- pany’s autonomous driving platform will support the mass production of a level three autonomous bus this year and two level four (fully autonomous) sedans in 2019. AI promises so much to con-


sumer tech and to the manufacturing industry behind it. The potential for AI to propel production toward In- dustry 4.0 nirvana is clear. In areas like the smart home, health care, transportation, robotics, and enter- tainment, the sky is the limit. At the sharp end of consumer applications AI is becoming conversational, with Google Home and Amazon Alexa be- coming table stakes for many devices. While 5G was not on everyone’s lips at productronica, connectivity


ach January, CES, the world’s largest con- sumer electronics show, displays technologies that will drive the electronics manufacturing


was, and that is what 5G is all about. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf expects 5G to bring in a new age where connectivity is taken for granted. He likened it to electricity. We do not think of elec- tricity as an enabler, we just assume it is available and abundant. 5G will take mobile and wireless communica-


tions to a new level, 100 times faster than 4G and near-zero latency. This makes 5G a real prospect for mission-critical applications, such as driverless


vehicles. Robots too took center stage at booth shows,


with companies exploring the relationship be- tween humans and robots. At productronica, Yamaha put a robot in a production line, changing feeders. At CES, the company put a human-like robot on a motorcycle. At productronica, cobots were collaborative robots, at CES, they were companion robots. These


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Page 29


Dressed for Success


Robotics


HELUKABEL works with customers who require robotic automation to develop pre-assembled cable protection systems for robots and handling systems.


ROBOFLEX®


Philip Stoten is an internation- ally recognized EMS industry expert. Known for his skills as an inter viewer, reporter and


panel moderator, Philip is a fea- tured multi-media contributor to U.S. Tech on a regular basis.


2001-C


TPE-jacketed, highly flexible, control and signal cable specially designed for resisting torsion and bending stresses in industrial robots. Suited for -40°C to +80°C environments.


E-NEWS


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