Background and Technologies

This chapter briefly reviews the technological background behind digitalization and digital transformation, ranging over Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML, as a central sub-category of AI), Computer Vision (as an application of ML), Mixed Reality (MR), Cyber-Physical Systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics, and the Digital Twin paradigm. This chapter discusses thee technologies’ usage ranging from smart software solutions that can efficiently process digital information and automate its conversion into useful insights, to predictive and immersive tools that allow robots and humans to work together in continuous cooperation and synchronization, realizing the vision of the industrial metaverse. This chapter attempts to answer the following questions: What are prominent digitalization and smart technologies about? What problems and use cases do they address? How do they work? And how do they shape the industry of the future?