Most of the physical machines need human operators in the loop to get the job done. Once human-like sensing, perceiving, reasoning, and action-taking capabilities are added to physical machines, they become cyber-physical systems. The ultimate goal is to make machines perform intended jobs by themselves. For example, once automobiles succeed to sense and perceive the environment, and drive themselves to reach the destination, they become cyber-physical systems.
Often the need for a human in the loop limits the performance and safety of machines. For example, human error is a major cause of road accidents. Further, the perception latency, almost 700 ms, determines the speed limit on expressways. Although we have made significant advancements in sensors like camera, LIDAR, and RADAR, our ability to develop computational algorithms to imitate humans’ cognitive abilities, particularly innate ones, is in a primitive state. Hence, after spending more than $80 billion in autonomous vehicle R&D, our progress is not insufficient to roll out them on busy streets. However, such cyber-physical systems are expected to fuel Creative waves of destruction in unfolding the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
