On 9 April we celebrate Internet of Things Day. In this post we will take a look at the origin of this term, the connected devices that have been introduced in our daily lives and the possible trends of this amazing technology.
Do you know how this concept came about?
After a “bet” in 1989 between Dan Lynch and John Romkey, where the challenge was to connect a toaster to the Internet. Months later, Romkey and a friend, named Simon Hackket, launched their invention: the Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control Toaster to the Internet.
Some innovative examples
Today, the Internet of Things has advanced at great speed, revolutionising most of the sectors we know. Without going any further, at Esferize we have our own developed products based on customised IoT solutions. If you want to know more about Zeus and Zeus Switch you can do it here.
There are many inventions that have crept into our daily lives without us realising it, and yet there are other more innovative ones that we are not used to seeing yet:
- Smart shoes that measure distance and time travelled, as well as calories burned.
- Garden sensors that record data on sunlight, temperature, fertiliser level in the soil and humidity.
- Smart garage doors to control garage access remotely from an app.
- Wearables for dogs to monitor their activity, sleep quality and get details about their behaviour.
- Smart buttons attached to household appliances such as washing machines to order detergent at the click of a button.
- Smart ovens that can be controlled from a smartphone or tablet and is able to recognise recipes and do the job on its own. When the dish is ready, it sends a message to the user.
- Smart, connected waste bin that helps recycling. It has different compartments in which the corresponding type of waste is placed. It has a motorised door that lifts up when you bring your hand close to it. It has Wi-Fi connectivity, USB port and reports to the mobile phone on our recycling and waste control, informing us of the kilos we are generating or whether we have bags left.
- Although this product is more common in our daily lives, we include in this list light regulators and smart plugs. Using an app, you can control the electricity, switch it on or off and dim the lights in your home.
Next steps for IoT
For some time now, leading consultancies have been trying to estimate how many devices will exist in the coming years. For example, this was the forecast for 2020…
- Gartner predicted that there would be 26 billion connected devices.
- Cisco predicted that there would be 50 billion connected devices.
- Intel predicted that there would be 200 billion connected devices.
- IDC predicted that there would be 212 billion connected devices.
As we can see, it is difficult to reach an agreement in such a changing environment. Even so, we have prepared for you an infographic with the possible evolution of the Internet of Things according to data provided by Microsoft, Gartner, IT Reseller, Business Wire and OBS Business School. Happy Internet of Things Day!
