Today, we’ll explore the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) and its significance. This diagram breaks it down into easy-to-understand sections, so let’s walk through it step by step.

1. The Differences Between Revolution and Evolution

Let’s first clarify why it’s called a revolution and not an evolution.

Revolution:

• Sudden and drastic changes that transform industries and societies.
• Think of it as a dramatic leap forward in technology and processes.

Evolution:

• Gradual and slow progress over time.

IR 4.0 is a revolution because it represents rapid and significant advancements in how we live and work.

2. The Bigger Picture: Industry 4.0 vs IR 4.0

It’s important to understand that Industry 4.0 is just a subset of IR 4.0.

• Industry 4.0 focuses on manufacturing and improving industrial processes using automation, IoT, and robotics.
• IR 4.0, however, encompasses much more:
• It impacts various sectors, such as education, healthcare, shopping, and agriculture.
• It’s a broad transformation, not limited to factories or industries.

3. The Lifestyle Through Industrial Revolutions

Let’s now look at how each industrial revolution shaped our lifestyle:

IR 1.0 — The Age of Manual Tools:

• People relied on physical and manual tools for work.
• Example: Ploughing fields with hand tools.

IR 2.0 — The Power of Electricity:

• Electricity revolutionised industries, enabling mass production.
• Example: Electric machines replaced manual labour.

IR 3.0 — The Digital Era:

• The rise of electronics and the internet connected the world.
• Example: Computers, email, and early e-commerce.

IR 4.0 — The Intelligence Revolution:

• We’re now using intelligence through AI, robotics, and advanced technologies.
• Example: Autonomous robots, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

4. Example: How Shopping Evolved

Let’s take shopping as an example of how each industrial revolution changed this activity:

• IR 1.0: People used cash for transactions.
• IR 2.0: The cash register was introduced, improving the checkout process.
• IR 3.0: Credit cards and online shopping emerged with the internet.
• IR 4.0: We see robotics and AR/VR enhancing the shopping experience, like virtual try-ons or automated warehouses.

Why is IR 4.0 Important?

IR 4.0 is transforming every aspect of our lives, from how we work and learn to how we interact with technology. It’s about leveraging intelligence to solve problems, improve efficiency, and create new possibilities.

[Note: You can download the full eBook — IoT Notes by Mazlan Abbas]

Today, we’ll examine how the Internet of Things (IoT) played a critical role in combating the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The diagram clearly shows the impacts, technologies, and solutions IoT provided during this global crisis.

1. The Serious Impact of COVID-19

COVID-19 affected every corner of our lives, especially in two major areas:

Economy

• Social distancing disrupted manual jobs and heavily impacted daily income earners (“kais pagi makan pagi” — hand-to-mouth living).
• Businesses relying on outside dependency suffered due to travel and supply chain restrictions.
• Cost-cutting became essential across all sectors.
• The lack of a cohesive ecosystem made economic recovery slower.

Health

• Health became a top priority.
• Awareness and consciousness about hygiene, social distancing, and health monitoring increased.
• Technology began to take centre stage in health-related solutions.

2. IoT Technologies Used

IoT, combined with IR 4.0 technologies (Industry 4.0), came into action to address these challenges. Let’s explore the tools and methods:

Robots

• Used for tasks like disinfection and delivery, especially in hospitals and public spaces, reducing human contact.

IoT

• Enabled real-time data collection and monitoring for health checks and remote patient management applications.

Drones

• Delivered essential items to maintain social distancing were used to monitor lockdown areas.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Enhanced contact tracing, temperature scanning, and predictive analytics to track the virus’s spread.

3. Practical Applications of IoT

IoT was at the heart of the pandemic response, enabling innovative applications:

Contact Tracing

• Mobile apps and wearable devices tracked individuals’ interactions, helping to identify and isolate potential cases.

Health Monitoring

• Remote patient monitoring systems allowed hospitals to track patients’ vital signs without physical visits.
• Temperature scanning systems were widely deployed in public places.

Environmental Monitoring

• IoT sensors monitor air quality and other environmental factors to maintain healthy surroundings.

Remote Operations

• IoT enabled it to manage utilities like remote meter reading and asset tracking.

Delivery Drones

• Delivered medicines, food, and other essentials, reducing human-to-human interaction.

4. The Role of Digitalisation

With physical interactions limited, digitalisation became a key enabler:

Online Presence

• Businesses and retail shifted online to continue operations.
• Education moved to online platforms, and virtual meetings became the norm.

Robots and Automation

• Robots handled repetitive tasks, like disinfection, to maintain hygiene standards.

Conclusion

IoT proved to be a game-changer during COVID-19. It connected people, devices, and systems, enabling effective solutions for healthcare, economic recovery, and safety.

The pandemic highlighted the importance of leveraging IoT for crisis management and showed us how technology can adapt to save lives and sustain economies.

[Full IoT Notes can be downloaded HERE]

Let’s discuss an essential concept in IoT — its key components. The diagram breaks IoT into four main building blocks, which we’ll explore step by step.

1. Sensors: The Eyes and Ears of IoT

The first layer is the sensors. These devices are at the heart of IoT; their job is to sense the environment.

• They generate data by measuring things like temperature, humidity, or motion.
• Think of them as the “end-nodes” in IoT — they are where the process begins.

Examples include:

• A digital thermometer sensing room temperature.
• A motion detector in a security system.

Without sensors, IoT wouldn’t have any information to work with!

2. Connectivity: The Communication Bridge

Once sensors collect data, it needs to be transferred somewhere for processing. That’s where connectivity comes in.

• IoT uses different communication technologies:
• Wireless options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and LPWAN (LoRa or Sigfox).
• Fixed methods like Ethernet.
• Connectivity ensures the data travels from the sensors to the next stage over the internet or private networks.

Imagine this as a digital highway connecting the physical world to the virtual one.

3. IoT Platform and Middleware: The Brain

The third component is the IoT platform or middleware. This is where all the raw data comes together and is processed.

• It acts as a central hub to aggregate data from multiple sensors.
• Middleware handles:
• Device management.
• Data storage and formatting using standard protocols.
• Providing APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) so apps can access the data.

Think of this as the “brain” that processes everything and makes sense of the data.

4. Applications and Analytics: Deriving Insights

Finally, all the processed data is used in applications and analytics to deliver value. This is where IoT makes an impact.

Applications:

• Use the data to create useful solutions, like apps that track fitness or control smart homes.
• Analytics and AI:
• Analyse the data using Artificial Intelligence or Big Data techniques.
• Generate insights to help make decisions or automate processes.

For example:

• A smart farming app could use soil moisture data to trigger irrigation.
• An AI system could predict machine failure in a factory.

Bringing It All Together

So, to summarise:

1. Sensors collect the data.
2. Connectivity transmits the data.
3. IoT Platform processes and stores the data.
4. Applications and Analytics use the data to create actionable insights.

IoT is a powerful combination of hardware, communication, and software working together to solve real-world problems.

[Note: Based on the eBook – IoT Notes by Mazlan Abbas] <– FREE Download