Trend of Increasing Coordination

Today, everybody speaks about the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain and other technologies that require an impressive degree of coordination. However, beyond the buzz words, few people understand the trend behind them. All technological systems evolve over time and the different steps of evolution can be studied on an abstract level. This is a law derived from thousands of patents. This and other laws form the Trends of Technology Evolution and they help to understand the next (r) evolutionary steps of today’s systems.

As a system evolves, the degree of coordination of materials, shape, rhythm and action is increasing. This means that a number of different things are coordinated: parameters like the shape of a system can be modified over the lifecycle of a product, to enable a better interaction with the environment. For example, computer keyboards have become more ergonomic by adopting curved shapes which allow a healthier use by the operator.

The coordination of rhythms is different. They require a continuous adaptation of the system. Like the use of power often costs higher fees during peek hours while low demand periods cost less. Highly developed systems would allow a coordination to the micro level. In such a world, energy prices could be charged precisely according to the current demand in the grid like on a stock market.

In production facilities, machines were acting on their own with humans controlling them. With the increasing automation, the human intervention became less. The rise of industrial robots in the 1980ties replaced classical human labor in settings with repetitive steps. The machines however showed only a moderate degree of coordination as they were performing isolated activities and were not connected with each other to collaborate on specific tasks. Each device was performing his own program under an overall rhythm. Today, we have the possibility to connect each device with each other via wireless networks and the system can be perfectionated: robots can now work side by side with humans (so called co-bots), machines contact other machines if one task is completed and the next step can be started, machines ask automatically for new supply of material or they notice themselves if maintenance is required.

This does not stop at mechanical systems. Cancer therapies were originally radiation or chemotherapies with a broad impact over the patient’s body. In the case of the conventional chemotherapy, toxic substances are injected into the body that will kill the tumor cells faster than the body cells. However, the rest of the body is heavily impacted by side effects. Modern immune-oncology cells act more precisely. They demask the tumor cells so that they can’t hide from the human immune system anymore and the human defenses are able to fight the malign cells. So, we can observe an increasing specificity which also falls under the trend of coordination as the effect is coordinated with the existing human defense system and the dangerous impact of the therapy on the rest of the body is minimized.

So, we can observe 2 lines within this trend: one is going to a more distributed system which is trying to employ multiple components or network to balance negative effects. This is the case in the IoT example or the blockchain which is using a distributed ledger to become secured against manipulation. The other line is trying to minimize negative impacts by becoming more specific like in the chemotherapy example.

As said before, this law applies to many technological systems and it is essential to understand where your main product(s) stand in the evolutionary context. If this is clear, the next evolutionary or revolutionary step can be developed.

Together we can develop the next step for your product. Please contact us at www.schaper-tech.com.