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Driving Innovation: The Role of IO-Link Sensors in Europe's Industrial Automation
Applied Technology Review | Thursday, March 19, 2026
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Haptic technology has rapidly advanced, improving feedback precision and realism. By improving training and research simulations, it has influenced hundreds of companies and enterprises.
While haptics are most commonly employed in business-to-business situations, they can potentially change people's lives, particularly through Virtual Reality (VR). Haptic gloves, vests, and bodysuits with actuators and sensors can recreate the experience of touching virtual objects, increasing immersion and realism.
Impact of haptics on our lives
Medical training and simulation: Haptic feedback devices can reproduce the sensations of resistance and pulsation, providing medical students and professionals with a more realistic simulation experience. This technology enables trainees to rehearse sensitive procedures, which speeds up the learning process and improves patient safety.
Training and skill development for different industries: From manufacturing to construction, haptic feedback can improve training programs by imitating real-world events and offering tactile help for learning new skills. Haptics improves muscle memory, allowing trainees to move directly from virtual training programs to real-world circumstances.
Accessibility and remote work: Haptic technology plays an important role in improving remote work. By providing tactile feedback, haptics enable operators to do difficult operations with accuracy and control from a safe distance, notably in fields such as robotics.
Rehabilitation and physical therapy: Haptic feedback devices can help in rehabilitation programs by providing real-time feedback and guidance to patients during exercises, allowing them to regain strength, mobility, and coordination.
Art and creativity : Haptics could allow artists and designers to produce digital artwork or sculptures that mimic the tactile sensation of manipulating traditional materials such as clay, paint, or wood. This could open up new creative opportunities and bridge the gap between traditional craftsmanship and digital media.
Remote collaboration and communication: Haptic technology may enable more realistic remote collaboration by allowing users to physically sense the presence and actions of others in virtual meetings and shared spaces. For example, it would enable doctors to provide their expertise and treatment to patients in remote locations or during emergencies.
Sports training and performance: Haptic feedback devices can provide athletes with real-time biomechanical input during training sessions, allowing them to improve their actions and avoid injuries. Haptic sensors, for example, may detect minor changes in body posture or technique and send moderate sensations to athletes to help them move more efficiently and safely. This increases their overall athletic performance. ...Read more
In the ever-evolving industrial landscape, the advent of digital twins is a testament to human ingenuity and the unwavering pursuit of efficiency. This transformative technology is reshaping the manufacturing sector and redefining the essence of production and design.
The Essence of Digital Twins
A digital twin is a vigorous, virtual model of a physical object or system. It's a mirror image in the digital realm, reflecting the real-world entity in real time. From a single screw to an entire assembly line, digital twins capture the intricacies of their physical counterparts with astonishing precision.
Revolutionizing Design and Production
The impact of digital twins on design and production is profound. They enable engineers to experiment and optimize without the constraints of the physical world. Accelerated product development, reduced defects, and significantly decreased manufacturing costs. Digital twins are not just tools but the new architects of innovation.
Predictive Maintenance: A Proactive Approach
One of the most compelling applications of digital twins is in predictive maintenance. By mirroring the real-time equipment status, digital twins allow for anticipating failures before they occur. This foresight is invaluable, leading to increased uptime and a drastic reduction in unplanned downtime. Digital twins enhance maintenance schedules, operational efficiency, and proactive problem identification, saving time and resources by analyzing historical data and trends.
The Sustainability Edge
In today's world, where sustainability is paramount, digital twins offer a beacon of hope. They provide a pathway to more sustainable manufacturing practices by optimizing resource usage and reducing waste. Production's environmental footprint can be minimized, paving the way for a greener future. Digital twins allow real-time monitoring and analysis of operations, enabling companies to make data-driven decisions that contribute to sustainability goals, revolutionizing industries' approach to environmental responsibility.
As we embrace the digital revolution, it's essential to remember that technology is a tool, and its value lies in how we wield it. Digital twins, with all their complexity, are ultimately about enhancing human potential. They reflect our creations and aspirations to build a smarter, more efficient, and more sustainable world. ...Read more
Steven is a strategic technology leader with 25 years of global experience driving innovation, transformation, and growth. At Pepper Money he leads the digital, data and technology functions, combining digital thinking, data-driven insights, commercial acumen, and executional discipline to deliver meaningful outcomes for both customers and the bottom line. His work spans digital strategy and delivery, enterprise transformation, M&A integration, and business operations, always with a focus on innovation, practical impact, and sustainable change.
As CIO of Pepper Money, I oversee our entire digital, data and technology ecosystem. My role involves aligning technology strategy with business goals, driving innovation and ensuring secure, efficient operations across the business. I focus on initiatives that transform how we operate and go to market— modernizing lending processes, enhancing digital experiences, unlocking data insights and exploring emerging technologies like AI.
Building Secure, Compliant Innovation From The Ground Up
Balancing innovation with compliance and cybersecurity is critical. We embed governance into every initiative through three key strategies:
1. Innovation with Guardrails: We pilot new technologies in controlled environments. For example, new machine learning models are tested in parallel with existing systems before scaling. We maintain transparency with the Executive Committee and Board, especially for high-risk innovations like AI.
2. Balanced Investment Portfolio: Using a structured prioritization framework and quarterly planning, we allocate resources across “run,” “change” and “transform” initiatives.
We track human capital investment ratios to ensure alignment with business value and operational sustainability, with full support from Executive Leadership and Board.
3. Compliance and Security by Design: Our legal, risk, cybersecurity and compliance teams are integral to the design phase of new initiatives.
By integrating regulatory requirements into product development, applying secure coding practices, conducting early threat modelling, and investing in modern controls, we achieve innovation with confidence.
Balancing Customer Experience With Platform Agility
We leverage modern technology to deliver seamless, personalized experiences and scalable systems:
1. Frictionless Value Chain: Using human-centred design and process mining, we optimize digital journeys. Brokers can complete online enquiries in under two minutes with real-time product fit and serviceability advice. Customers apply digitally, verify identity biometrically, upload documents securely and sign electronically. Underwriting is supported by automated workflows, document processing and real-time decisioning using machine learning. Fraud detection tools analyze data for tampering and asset finance disbursements enable same-day vehicle delivery. These innovations have led to above-average NPS scores, industry-leading mortgage turnaround times, and high auto-approval rates.
2. Agile, Integrated Architecture: Our microservices and low-code architecture supports rapid deployment and seamless integration across platforms. Systems communicate via APIs, enabling features like resuming paused applications in real-time. This architecture is scalable, reliable and minimizes downtime.
3. Cloud-First Infrastructure: With 90 percent of systems in public cloud or SaaS, we ensure performance, uptime and agility. This allows us to scale quickly during demand spikes or market expansion, maintaining fast uninterrupted service.
Key Advice For Aspiring Leaders
Driving digital innovation in a regulated environment is challenging but rewarding. My advice to fellow CIOs:
• Stay Customer-Centric and Business-Focused: Technology should serve customers and business goals. Be a business leader first, align initiatives with strategy and customer needs to gain executive support and deliver real value.
• Empower Talent and Collaborate: Innovation comes from people, so build diverse, skilled teams and give them space to grow. Share the vision, define boundaries and encourage safe experimentation. Foster cross-functional collaboration and lead by example.
• Capture Business Value: Move beyond IT dashboards to use data intelligently to tell compelling stories, quantify cost avoidance, efficiency gains or speed improvements in business terms. This builds trust and connects technology to outcomes.
• Continuously Reinvent Yourself: The tech landscape evolves rapidly. Stay informed on trends, regulations, and best practices. Be ready to pivot strategies and adapt your leadership style because adaptability as a CIO is essential for today’s uncertain, fast-paced environment.
Pepper Money is a leading non-bank lender founded on a mission to help people succeed. For over 25 years, Pepper Money has helped over half a million customers with a wide range of really helpful loan options including home loans, car loans, novated leases, personal loans, asset finance, commercial real estate and SMSF loans. Operating across Australia and New Zealand, Pepper Money works through trusted broker partners, white label solutions and direct channels—always guided by the question: “How can we be more helpful?”. ...Read more
Drones are an emerging technology in various industries, including the military, law enforcement, rescue operations, entertainment, and mining. This essay will address the issues that the mining industry faces as the use of drones grows.
Data Processing and Analysis
The modern mine is a data-intensive industrial ecosystem. Millions of data points are generated during everyday operations, ranging from weather and ambient conditions to asset mobility, geography, geology, and other elements specific to particular working settings.
Drones must consequently be capable of collecting, processing, and analyzing data utilizing powerful software and analytical tools. Furthermore, central data processing hubs, to which drones transmit information in real-time, must be robust and capable of efficiently analyzing the data collected in mines.
Safety and Security
Drones can pose a risk if not appropriately operated by trained workers. They may endanger air traffic and personnel in underground mines' restricted confines. Sensors, cameras, and GPS positioning can reduce collision chances while adhering to local rules can prevent more significant difficulties.
Security is another major worry in the drone industry as a whole. If strong security protocols are not in place, drones can be hacked and hijacked. This can result in the loss of sensitive data and, in the worst-case scenario, a backdoor into crucial systems, disrupting mining efforts and posing a threat to life.
The importance of cybersecurity has grown to the point where the US government restricted the export of drones by a significant manufacturer last year, citing concerns about national security and foreign policy. Concerns concerning GPS spoofing, downlink intercepts, and data mining are fast increasing in the drone industry.
Technical Limitations of Drones
Despite breakthroughs in sensor technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other critical components of current drones, several technical limits remain.
Flight time, range, cargo capacity, and battery life can all impact the effectiveness of mining drones. Furthermore, integrating drones with other devices and legacy systems might take much work. However, technological progress can overcome these obstacles.
For example, hybrid power systems may overcome battery restrictions, which makes them more appealing to mining businesses. Innovation, like any other technology, produces increasingly sophisticated drone systems that can be used for mission-critical tasks. ...Read more
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