Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442832
The Internet of Things (IoT) has arrived. Its future is profound. Billions of devices are being connected into the internet, allowing for the capture, manipulation, and processing of signals across a host of sources. Computers connect common everyday objects and devices that employ sensors to capture information. Collecting analog data from the external world, this network works to code it into digital signals and transfers it across time and space utilizing the internet. Device, edge, and cloud domains function as boundaries into various realms in which information gets handled. IoT allows for increased coordination and control of automation. More and more automation is getting deployed within industry. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a specific subset of the IoT. It is primarily concerned with the employment of mostly automatic equipment in a system of manufacturing or other production processes in industrial settings, including factories, warehouses, and businesses. The availability of increasingly large amounts of data brought into the network by way of the IoT enabled devices allows for massive amounts of data to be processed quickly and efficiently, providing insight and better decision- making and process control for industry. Robots have long been part of industry. The example most people are familiar with are robotics used on manufacturing lines such as those for automobile assembly. Semiconductor manufacturing makes excellent use of robots to have steady and reliable control of the process and the handling of sensitive and sophisticated products that require great care and consistency. COBOTS ENGAGED IN IIoT By Paul Golata, Mouser Electronics For several generations, industry has been well served by robots. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) now brings collaborative robots—called cobots—into a synergistic working relationship with humans inside the future of industrial automation. | 17 |