Report on ‘Expert Talk’ Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering Department, DBCE, Fatorda 1st August 2019

The first session of the ‘Expert Talk’ series, organized by the Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering Department, DBCE, Fatorda witnessed an energetic and insightful talk by Mr. Chaitanya Voolapalli, Manager, Maintenance and Control, Commscope, Verna. The session was titled as: “Industrial automation – Industry 4.0 and beyond”.

The final year students attended the lecture on 1st August, 2019 at 11am. Mr. Chaitanya discussed the various shades of industrial automation, with the help of animations and video clips and how we have moved from Industry 1.0, way back in 1786 to industry 4.0. The first industrial revolution was about coal, water and steam, bringing with it the steam engine and innovations, while the second industrial revolution came about with the invention of electricity and enabled mass production, he briefed. The third industrial revolution was all about computers. Transistors, microprocessors, robotics and automation enabled new ways of processing and sharing information, he added. Fourth industrial revolution, also referred to as Industry 4.0 is the era of artificial intelligence, genome editing, biometrics, renewable energy, 3D printing, autonomous vehicles and the Internet of Things. He highlighted the need to observe the trends in industrial revolution and note the speed and intent with which emergent technology is changing.

While stating the benefits of Industry 4.0 on one hand, he also cautioned the students on the other, against its ill effects. He emphatically stressed on the importance of automation-industry and how it will reduce the job opportunities of humans in the due course of time.
Briefing about Industrial Automation, he discussed about the various control operations in industry and how automation helps in various processes of the industry. Also, he discussed the significance of PID controllers with examples of temperature control and driving of a vehicle. With the help of an example he briefed how predictive maintenance is done using IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things).

He advised the students to develop an acute curiosity to comprehend the gaps in the real world and see how they can fill the gaps by their innovative ideas and projects.
After the session, the speaker also was keen on handling the relevant queries coming from the students with regards to project ideas and attributes required by students to be industry ready.

Vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Sherwin Colaco. The session was organized by DBEATS faculty coordinators, Prof. Deron Rodrigues and Prof. D. S. Vidhya.