While the “c” in CES stands for “consumer,” there is sometimes at the annual gadget circus a silent “m” for “manufacturing.”
This list is not intended to be all-inclusive, but here are some technologies from CES 2022 that grabbed our attention.
Intel’s New Chip Powers IIoT
At the top of our list sits the new Intel Alder Lake S-series and H-series processors. They are designed to allow edge processors, those placed directly at the point of data acquisition, to conduct more compute than ever before. This takes the load off master control systems or servers at the hearts of local networks by feeding them processed information versus raw data.
Consider these processors in the context of digital twins. Creating a digital twin at the edge of a production process requires gathering data from supply to manufacturing to distribution. And if a company wants to get into predictive maintenance, gathering ongoing data on products is essential.
This translates to IIoT technology, or edge devices, that these new chips from Intel are designed to serve. Keep an eye on what IIoT devices these new chips empower and how those new devices have an effect on digital twin initiatives among other uses.
Enhanced Heavy Vehicle Tracking
Dutch company Hiber launched an upgrade to its HiberEasypulse fleet monitoring system, designed to track heavy industrial vehicles and machinery.
The satellite-enabled IIoT system is designed for the mining, construction, agriculture, and forestry sectors but one can imagine the system’s applicability to any industry that uses the same or similar types of vehicles. For the manufacturer of these vehicles, HiberEasypulse presents an opportunity to gather data for predictive maintenance at the very least.
Automated John Deere Tractors
When it comes to vehicle automation, self-driving cars are a long way from reality no matter what kinds of innovations we see every year for one reason: AI still cannot possibly anticipate and react as well as a human to all the myriad forms of danger on the road.
As long as human lives honestly remain at stake, full passenger vehicle automation remains a daydream. (If a vehicle requires a human watchdog, is it actually autonomous?)
Remove humans from the immediate vicinity and short of a Skynet situation fully automated vehicles become more possible and practical. Enter the automated farm vehicles presented by John Deere at CES 2022.
The tractors have an accompanying smartphone app to allow the user to check position, fuel levels, and other key data, as well as to shut down the machine. The question of full automation might therefore depend on your perspective. However, this isn’t just theoretical technology. The tractors will be available to farmers this year. Check out the John Deere microsite if you want to learn more.
Electric Replaces Hydraulics and Diesel
Doosan Bobcat presented the new T7X Compact Track Loader. It replaces diesel power with battery power and a hydraulic system with an electrical drive system. According to Bobcat, the new loader requires half the parts and components and reduced amount of coolant compared to a diesel engine loader. So we’re essentially talking about ESG and reduced labor costs, as the loader also supposedly requires comparatively less maintenance, being a simpler machine.
The technology is not necessarily new. Factories install electrically driven tools to eliminate the need for air and oil hoses snaking across plants to deliver fluid power to machines. This was also a move toward simplicity. The technology and thinking behind the T7X is therefore solid. The reduction in labor costs needs proving out, but the loader is ready for prime time and therefore worth noting.
