We have seen this Hype Cycle chart before, and it appeared in the Terry Wohlers talk at Inside 3D Printing in NYC this year in reference to where 3D printing sits, and what is happening right now with 3D Scanning and bioprinting. It is interesting taking a look at how the Hype Cycle works and what its deeper goals are.
Gartner’s 2013 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies features Humans and Machines, at 3ders.org:
The key theme of the 2013 edition of Gartner’s long-running “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies” is “the evolving relationship between humans and machines due to the increased hype around smart machines, cognitive computing and the Internet of Things.”
Analysts believe that the relationship is being redefined through emerging technologies, narrowing the divide between humans and machines.
Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner fellow who came up with the hype cycle idea in 1995, says “In fact, by observing how emerging technologies are being used by early adopters, there are actually three main trends at work. These are augmenting humans with technology — for example, an employee with a wearable computing device; machines replacing humans — for example, a cognitive virtual assistant acting as an automated customer representative; and humans and machines working alongside each other — for example, a mobile robot working with a warehouse employee to move many boxes.”
“Enterprises of the future will use a combination of these three trends to improve productivity, transform citizen and customer experience, and to seek competitive advantage,” said Hung LeHong, research vice president at Gartner.
“These three major trends are made possible by three areas that facilitate and support the relationship between human and machine. Machines are becoming better at understanding humans and the environment — for example, recognizing the emotion in a person’s voice — and humans are becoming better at understanding machines — for example, through the Internet of things. At the same time, machines and humans are getting smarter by working together.”
… Hype Cycles estimates how long technologies and trends will take to reach maturity and helps organizations decide when to adopt. It represents the five stages of new technology adoption and starts with a Technology Trigger: a new invention or innovation. It goes then all the way up to a “peak of inflated expectations” and then down to a “trough of disillusionment”. Successful innovations could climb the “slope of enlightenment” and, finally reach to “plateau of productivity”.
In the 2013 hype cycle, Technology Triggers include 3D bioprinting, 3D scanners, autonomous vehicles and biochips etc, all of which Gartner reckons are 5-10 years from the plateau.
Consumer 3D printing, together with “big data”, gamification, and wearable user interfaces are listed at the overhyped stage….
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!
