Setting the scene – the fourth industrial revolution

If you’re interested in the IoT you may have also heard of something called Industry 4.0 – otherwise known as the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 manufacturing is all about the increasing connectivity of smaller and smaller components, some of which are in machines on the factory floor, which generate data that can be analysed used to improve the manufacturing process from supply right through to development.

So this week, in my quest for films to ruin, I was in need of something with manufacturing at its heart. What better than ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, the 1971 retelling of Roald Dahl’s classic?

So prepare to have your taste buds tickled and your fond childhood memories brutally crushed by the power of IoT. It’s time to ruin movies!

The film: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Mel Stuart’s musical fantasy film is adapted from Roald Dahl’s book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.’ It tells the story of Charlie Bucket’s life-changing visit to a famous chocolate factory owned by the reclusive Willy Wonka, played by Gene Wilder.

Five children from around the world win a tour of the top-secret factory when they discover golden tickets hidden within Wonka’s chocolate bars. Guided by Wonka himself and his cohort of orange Oompa-Loompas, the children discover fabulous and splendiferous things – a chocolate waterfall, edible trees, gum that replicates the taste of an entire a three-course meal, and fizzy drinks that make you levitate.

Unbeknownst to them, lures for greedy children lurk round every corner, and lead more than one youngster to a sticky end.

Fraud-proof golden tickets

Adorable Charlie Bucket dreams of finding a golden ticket, but his hopes are dashed when a millionaire from Paraguay claims to have found the last one. It turns out that the ticket is a fake, leaving one genuine ticket still in circulation. Since the tickets are hidden in the chocolate bars, they are only exposed to light when first unwrapped. What if the ticket had included a connected light sensor, set to send data to Mr Wonka when it first sensed sunlight? He would know instantly that a genuine ticket had been found and the fake would have been instantly discovered.

River-bed sensors – saving Augustus Gloop

The finder of the first ticket is Augustus Gloop, an incessant little scoffer of sweet things. Augustus’ greediness leads him to scoop great guzzles of Willy Wonka’s precious chocolate river straight into his mouth – and so intent is he on the choc that he falls headfirst into the river and is sucked into a large pipe. If the riverbed had been cognitive, it would have been able to measure and maintain a consistent volume of liquid (within certain parameters.) When Augustus fell in, he would have displaced a great deal of the water. Sensing a foreign object, the suction system that churned the chocolate could have been automatically shut off until the object was removed.

Rescue from the fiery furnace

Spoiled Veruca Salt, she of the everlasting “I want it now” refrain, finally comes a-cropper in the golden eggs room when she is tipped down the garbage chute with other bad eggs. The chute leads to the furnace, which fortunately is lit “only every other day”, giving her a sporting 50/50 chance of not being fried to a crisp. Naturally the risk makes her punishment the more dramatic. A connected furnace could be remotely switched off by Mr Wonka and Veruca spared her sizzling end. Those of you seeking flamey retribution may be comforted by the fact that she would at least still be covered in garbage.

Greedy guzzlers must earn their grub

Most of the mishaps that befall these poor mites are the result of their greediness and impatience. Violet Beauregard swipes a piece of gum still in the development stage and swells to an enormous size. Mike Teavee, determined to be the first human to teleport himself from one place to another, leaps into the experimental device before anyone can stop him and shrinks to one hundredth of his former size. Imagine if it were impossible for these children to try out any gadgets or to eat a single sweet morsel from within the factory walls before they had earned it? So we’ll give each one a wearable fitness aid to measure the number of steps they take. When they’ve done enough exercise and completed the requisite number of steps, then they can have all the lollipops, gummy bears and exploding candy they desire.

Farewell Oompa-Loompas, hello AI

Thanks to Industry 4.0, an increasing amount of the production process can be automated. Sophisticated robots that carry sensors are able to operate within environments that would be dangerous to humans, removing the need for manual labour. So perhaps IoT would lead us to say goodbye to the faithful Oompa-Loompas? Personally, I would keep them employed solely for the brilliance of their lambasting songs. Real scorchers, one and all.

So there we have it – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ruined by IoT and Industry 4.0.

This is just a fun way of showing how IoT can impact manufacturing in particular and everyday life in general. What other films would you like to see get the IoT ruins movies treatment? Let us know in the comments below.