A group of audience focused their attention on Festo at the Hannover Messe held in Germany in end of April 2018. It was to observe the company's bio-inspired robotic bat. The BionicFlyingFox flapped its wings flying across the complicated exhibition hall and flew back to its original position. Bats are nocturnal animals and can catch their prey without crashing into walls in the dark. They make sounds and listen to the sound waves that the noise creates echoing after hitting something as a way to detect distance, direction and size of that object. This technique is called echolocation. The bat-inspired robot Festo developed does not apply echolocation. Instead, the bat robot flies by comparing its actual flight path against a pre-defined flight path while tracking infrared markers installed in the bat's wings and legs with a motion tracking system on the ground that uses infrared cameras. But its movements are much like a bat, which amazed the audience at the trade fair. Studying animals can help build an effective robot.   

 BionicWheelBot, Festo's spider-like robot, crawled around the company's booth. It would sometimes roll itself up and roll instead of crawling to save energy. A member of the company said, "There are many fields where we can apply bionic robots. We plan to develop the robots and then find their application areas." This company has developed or is researching fish, elephant trunk, ant, jellyfish and kangaroo robots. The elephant trunk-inspired robot is applied to the process of gripping, picking up and transferring objects in spaces that used to be challenging due to restrictions in axis. The ant-inspired BionicANTs is a robot that can communicate with each other and coordinate. The robot, which is the size of the palm of a hand, is made of plastic, metal and ceramic materials. There is a 3D stereo camera installed in its eyes, a 7.2V battery on its shoulders, and a GPS receiver for tracking installed on its stomach. A solution of transferring to another operation process if some equipment fails is being developed based on an industry-university-research collaboration for this robot to be applied to smart factories. Festo, an automation company, is one of the core companies leading Industry 4.0 pursued by the German government.

 At JEC World 2018, a leading international composites show held in Paris, a flying car and a solar cell vehicle shaped like a ray gained much attention. The flying car unveiled by a Slovakian engineering company, AeroMobil, can be driven on the road and flown in the air. It only requires a distance of 595m for takeoff and can fly at 259km/h. The car is being developed with the goal of becoming commercialized by 2020.

 The solar cell vehicle shaped like a ray was submitted by Lightyear One, a startup founded by students of the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. The vehicle is only 500cm in length, 165cm in width, 122cm in height and 380kg in weight. It weighs a mere one fifth of a midsize car. It can run at 130km/h with its solar cells and lightweight auxiliary battery. And an ultralight aircraft built by France's Elixir Aircraft that was displayed next to the solar vehicle weighs 265kg but can easily fly two passengers. Elixir Aircraft was a 3-year-old company at the time of the trade show with only 6 employees but had already sold 23 aircrafts.

 Bionic robots, flying cars and solar-powered vehicles are small examples that demonstrate how fierce the technology development competition is towards the 4th industrial revolution. We are witnessing an emergence of technologies we have never imagined. Various technologies including autonomous vehicles, AI, smart city, and cobot – robot intended for interaction with humans in a workplace – are being developed across the world.

 Existing strong robot manufacturers such as KUKA and ABB are developing 'cobots', robots that can collaborate with humans. An average robot made of iron may potentially cause harm to humans in the immediate vicinity upon contact. This is why most robots are operated inside a safety fence. However, cobots can work alongside humans.

 Interestingly, Bosch – a company that does not make robots – produced a 'robot jacket'. Bosch Rexroth (subsidiary of Bosch) developed the APAS assistant, a protective robot jacket. This jacket stops immediately when it comes into contact with humans. Director of this company says, "The jacket is equipped with more than 100 sensors, designed to stop immediately upon contact. This system can be applied to any robot."

 Digital twin lies at the core of smart factory. It is a system that maximizes the efficiency of an actual factory or product using a cyber-physical system. Simply put, it is a system of running tests in parallel by establishing a cyber space equal to the actual environment using software. Siemens, which has a world class level smart factory, developed a 'digital twin system' required in the continuous process of assembling industry like aircrafts and vehicles, and petrochemical industry. The system demonstrates how the design, production planning, production engineering, production implementation (operation) and service are connected via the cyber-physical system in the assembling process and continuous process. Director Choi Yousoon of Siemens Korea said, "Some automakers in Korea are now asking auto parts companies for design based on digital twin." This is because the previous process of using a mockup takes a lot of time and money during wind tunnel performance testing, which impacts competitiveness.

 Phoenix Contact, an electronics housing company, is developing a flexible manufacturing system. This system allows for different products to be manufactured in one production line. Different machinery and production lines are needed to manufacture thousands of different types of electronic housing. On the other hand, introducing a flexible manufacturing system will enable the company to produce different housings, small or big, on one production line. Apply this system in a car manufacturer and you can manufacture BMW models on a Mercedes-Benz production line.

 Besides smart factories, we are seeing a wide range of smart service solutions as well. Switzerland's ABB showcased various smart factory solutions. One of the solutions was a service that allows you to replace parts before they break down or fail through 'predictive maintenance'. Post-maintenance after certain parts of the factory fail generates a lot of cost during a suspension of operation. ABB's Group Vice President Roberto Ruggeri said , "We developed a smart factory solution connecting sensors, big data and cloud as well as a system that mitigates inconvenience of our customers through predictive maintenance." The service, for example, conducts real-time monitoring of ABB's transformer using a sensor on the product, which then allows the company to replace parts if there is a foreseeable issue. Siemens has something similar. It unveiled a solution enabling predictive maintenance by installing sensors on its motors.

 Production efficiency is important, but so is logistics. The entire process of storage and release of raw materials, input into the production line, transportation of completed products, accurate identification of product volume, and truck loading are all linked to logistics. A research institute leading in this area is Fraunhofer IML in Dortmund, Germany. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are easily seen around the institute. PR Officer, Ralph Neuhaus explained, "Fraunhofer IML, founded in 1981, has around 450 researchers consisted of 200 scientists and 250 research assistances who are conducting research on future-oriented logistics industry based on the institute's more-than-30-year research knowhow on logistics systems." The key is intelligent logistics system that combines IoT, wireless communication technology and AGVs. The institute aims to optimize the entire process from raw materials input to transportation of finished products through an intelligent logistics system. Neuhaus added, "Standardization is important in unmanned automation because it requires transporting items of various materials and sizes. We aim to complete the system by 2020."

 What is required in order to effectively respond to the rough waves of the 4th industrial revolution? First, we need to focus on industry-university-research collaboration. German companies are pursuing development based on industry-university-research collaboration. Such efforts are led by large companies such as Siemens, Bosch, SAP, KUKA, Festo and Adidas together with research institutes and universities such as the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Fraunhofer IML and RWTH Aachen University.

 A key example is the 'it's OWL'. It's OWL is a cluster of companies, universities and research institutes located in Lippe, a district in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The cluster gathers many large companies, SMEs, universities and research institutes, including the global machine tool builder DMG Mori, premium home appliances company Miele, Bielefeld University, Paderborn University, and Fraunhofer IML. Around 170 organizations located in this cluster are in partnerships developing technologies related to the 4th industrial revolution. They are focused intensively on developing technologies that are challenging to research at an individual company level, such as intelligent sensors, auto parts, intelligent power grids, and cyber-physical systems (CPS). Technologies developed at the cluster are then provided to various companies. It's OWL transferred technologies to companies while conducting 73 projects by 2016. The number of technology development projects targeting the global market also amounted to 33, ranging from automation, electric vehicles, agricultural machinery, intelligent machines to smart grid. If it is challenging to find partners domestically, one must also consider global partnership. It is important to consider collaborating with institutes that have strength in application such as Germany's Fraunhofer IML and RWTH Aachen University or industry-university-research clusters.

 Second, we must be aware of the importance of 'smart logistics systems' and 'flexible manufacturing systems.' Most companies focus on building smart factories. Logistics, however, is just as much important. For example, if the 8-lane Gyeongbu Expressway from Busan to Seoul was restricted to only 2 lanes because of a construction in Jukjeon, Gyeonggi-do, then the entire expressway can only have the capacity of a two-lane road. This is why establishing a logistics system that combines intelligent warehouse system, transport automation and smart delivery system is important. Introducing such a system allows for an effective response to overseas direct purchase where most of the deliveries are multi-variety, small quantity orders. Flexible manufacturing system also allows a factory to produce, for example, skin toners on a lotion production line. It is difficult to build a new factory every time there is a change in demand. It requires a lot of investment and finding a new factory site is also a challenge. But introducing a flexible manufacturing system would allow you to respond quickly.

 Third, developing a new business model. This does not mean to simply link a basic product from manufacturing to sales. It means to find a new source of growth. Professor Frank Piller at the School of Business, RWTH Aachen University said, "What is more important that new technologies and new product development in the era of the 4th industrial revolution is 'something that makes money', which is a new business model." Adidas' Speedfactory can quickly produce customized products. However, if in the future Adidas can provide 3D printers and robots to its distributers where they can produce customized shoes for customers in 5 hours, it may be better for the brand to change its business model from shoes manufacturer to a Speedfactory supplier. Likewise, a car maker may provide sharing services, or an aircraft engine manufacturer might change its main business model towards becoming an engine rental and service provider.

 Professor Piller added, "gaining a strong foothold in platform is important in a business model." He explains, however, that because it is difficult to develop a platform alone, companies must approach platform development through 'open innovation'. He noted, "Adidas makes smart sneakers, but it didn't create the entire industry ecosystem by itself. Many companies, research institutes and universities contributed." The smart shoe is equipped with motors, batteries, cables and sensors on the sole of the shoe to gather various information while it is worn. Professor Piller added, "It used to be challenging to realize the 'connectivity' part of the core technologies, but today it is possible. What is important now is generating profits."