The Internet of Things - SciFi of the future, Today! - Part 1

Imagine a world where your oven knows what time to switch itself on, and to what temperature, your bath knows what time to run itself, and your alarm systems know when to activate, all based on your online schedule for the day. Imagine traffic lights being able to decide on their timings based on knowing how many cars are on the road, agriculture irrigation systems able to decide when to activate based on their knowledge of how moist the soil is. Where robots are able to communicate with each other and collaborate to get things done. Where all of our human created technology is connected to the internet to communicate with each other and act like a "Brain". Sounds like a sci-fi movie, but this is the Internet of Things.

The internet of things refers to millions of pieces of our human created technology being connected to the internet, and having "senses", based on different types sensors which can collect information from the world around them, and communicate this information with each other to make decisions based on the information gathered. Most of the different types of our technology are now capable of being connected to a network, light switches, TVs, fridges, microwaves, cars, lights, alarms, heating and cooling systems, mining equipment, farming equipment and almost anything else you can think of.

The recent emergence and growth of extremely low cost single board computer systems (which are credit card sized and smaller, computing platforms) like the Raspberry pi and Arduino, have caused a massive industry of armature home based DIY electronics and IoT projects. Thousands of people are now getting involved with creating their own IoT projects at home, while big business is also jumping on board and innovating in all of the big industries.

Arduino board

Some examples of amazing DIY projects include: a plethora of different drones and robots able to mow the lawn, vacuum the house, make coffee, take aerial photographs, head motion tracking systems and other virtual reality, motion detection systems, personal weather stations, cellphone controlled lights and other home appliances, full home automation systems, motorbike telemetry systems, plant monitoring systems.

Some of the industries where IoT is operating already include: Automotive, in the form of autonomous cars, GPS systems, in car entertainment. Energy, such as monitoring electricity demand and usage on different power grids and making adjustments accordingly. Healthcare, such as tablet devices which integrate to the medical equipment, Smart Manufacturing, where production line equipment is able to communicate which each other and make dynamic adjustments, Retail, where shops are able to know how many people are shopping and where they are, Smart Buildings, Smart Homes, Smart Transportation, Agriculture and other farming, Mining, Nature conservation and Forestry.

Stay tuned for more IoT
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