Flipboard on Flipboard

This space has been dedicated to exploring the ways in which robots are acting as change agents – of the category and of manufacturing. There's a lot to be said for the ways in which those transformations are taking place now, and it's all good. There's a case though, that what lies ahead for robotics in the Industry 4.0 or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is where real excitement takes place. In the IIoT, robots that combine mind and machine change the ways in which goods are produced, and the entire business of manufacturing. In the IIoT, agile factories are driven by "big data" – including quality metrics, market feedback and real-time demand signals.