New Hardware Innovations Will Drive the Future of Industry 4.0

We are in the midst of the fourth Industrial Revolution with intelligent data-driven environments becoming more mainstream in diverse industries including agriculture, electronics, medical devices, and fulfillment centers.

Much of the focus has been around the software needed for security, machine-to-machine communications, and AI.

Equally important is the need for hardware innovation in the hundreds of millions of motors, motor drives, robots and robotics required in today’s industrial spaces – as well as in the server racks of the data centers that support smart factories and facilities.

GaN Systems provides the power semiconductors that enable the design of the hardware that will power the evolution of Industry 4.0:

• Motor drives that reduce energy loss, increase power density, and double motor lifetimes
• Robotics that have the precision, flexibility, dexterity and speed that are all required in these applications
• Fast wireless charging systems for truly autonomous mobile robot operation

To move toward fulfilling the potential of Industry 4.0, addressing the challenges of new hardware design and energy efficiencies is just as important as those more well-known initiatives focused on data, software, machine learning, and security. This is true not only for the business bottom line, but also for Industry to embrace the responsible use of energy resources to mitigate global environmental impact.