AspieWithSkills wrote:
I'm working on some projects with sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT). Anyone here interested in discussing this type of technology?
This is just my wishful thinking:
I would like to just throw something on my supermarket cart, and instantaneously know how much I should pay. That would be a great advantage. Cost would fall because it would be unnecessary to spend money on wages. So retail chains would love it.
That would require a little small wireless circuit on each product (maybe in replacement of bar codes). I would just fill the cart, and use a card to authorize the payment. And the supermarket would know exactly his stocks of each product. Dumb robots would be able to replenish it.
Maybe before paying I would be able to get a better offer from a competitor, using a tablet or phone, and ask the supermarket to match the offer or make a discount. It would be easy to share the list of products, because all will be electronic.
Or I would like to order everything over Internet, and have it delivered to my house. The sensors should be able to tell if the packet is broken, expiration dates, etc.
I would make my list, and let the supermarkets contest for best offer.
Instead of a car, I could have a self driving cart of my property, so my software would use a TSP solver to calculate where to buy all the things I want at the lower cost. And I would send my cart to collect all my purchases. That would require each product to be aware of his location, maybe consulting nearby GPS, And the cart should be able to detect if that specific product is deposited on the cart by the vendor.
My house computer will know exactly what I have on my refrigerator and cupboards. It would be able to tell me lots of things, like making my purchase list, telling me what I need to consume before his expiration. What kind of recipes I can cook with my list of ingredients, or if I are eating too little of some vitamin, or too much unhealthy food.
If I'm traveling near to a convenient store, my house would send me an e-mail telling me to buy something.
Fruits should have a ripeness sensor (maybe a sugar detector). How many times I bought a good looking fruit, but it was tasteless because it was harvested too early...
If I lose an object, or my pet escapes, I would just check my phone to find where is located. If a burglar steals my netbook, I would know exactly where it is. His sensor will just check the nearest GPS.
Finally, I would be able to find my unmatched socks and lost umbrellas.
If somebody finds a lost or forgotten object, it would be easy to contact the owner. Just ask the sensor database.
Servant robots would be much easier to program. They would identify and locate each object without complex software. They would be cheaper and feasible.
It would be easy to tell them to clean my house. They would not need to guess if an object over the table is a fork, or a bottle. They will move the fork to the washing machine, and ask the bottle if it should go to the garbage, or the refrigerator. Without sensors, the robot would need expensive and hard to code artificial intelligence.
It would be easy to classify objects for recycling. Each manufacturer would write the instructions on the sensor.
How to wash and iron my clothes? The robot will just check the vendor database for instructions.
And what if I want to discard something? maybe i need to throw something to the garbage. An old video card because my motherboard is broken, or a clothe that I never used and no more fits me. Instead of trowing that to the garbage somebody may send his cart to get it. Y may sell or give it for free.
Most of that technology already exists. For example, there are wireless chips which do not need energy. They use the energy of the wireless signal. All that technology just needs to be put together. These chips would need some privacy capacities, like, if I buy them, they should not be accessible outside of my network. But if I throw them on the garbage, thew should change the owner.
03 Jun 2013, 10:11 pm
