Probably you hear words like smart home and smart TV every day. But have you ever wondered that there are many more things surrounding you that are actually “smart’? The word smart became a buzz itself.
Yes smart technologies surround us, we have microchips everywhere starting from cars ending with refrigerators and washing machines. And yes, the digital future is here. Let’s take a look of what smart thighs surround us today and what can be here in the near future.
Smart Homes
Probably everyone has heard about them. Unfortunately not everyone is living in one. Smart thermostat and smart light bulb can significantly decrease energy consumption, and so decrease your monthly bills and ensure a green future. Home automation despite being still unaffordable in some countries is becoming more and more popular in developed ones.
Artificial intelligence is aiming not only to decrease electricity and heating costs, but to create the highest level of security for residents via connecting all security elements like fire alarm and security camera into one integral system, ensuring the top level of security for residents.
Smart Speakers
This stuff is much cheaper compared to a smart home and almost everyone can afford it. I can bet you have heard about Amazon Echo, Amazon Alexa and Google Home or Google Nest not to say anything about Apple HomePod. They can not only play music for you but do much more: set alarms and reminders, read out news and assist you shopping online.
Also as most users claim that it is really funny to use that kind of gadget. You can summon Google Assistant by simply saying, “OK Google,” or, “Hey Google,” followed by a question or command. The assistant can answer your questions about whether, currency rates, sport scores and many others. You can also make hands free calls via Google Assistant.
Last but not least: you can connect most of the voice controlled smart assistants to previously mentioned smart home systems and control light and heating at your home with your voice.
Smart Watches and Wristbands
They are probably the most widespread smart gadgets, but let’s look at their features and benefits that are just on their way for now.
Assume you have an ealderly granny living alone, you can’t be with her 24/7 for sure, but the same time you are really worried that there will be no one around to call her an ambulance if she will have a heart stroke. But luckily her smart wristwatch can do so while monitoring heart rate and blood pressure parameters and contacting emergency service, via mobile network, if the parameters are exceeding normal states.
Good thing that in the nearest future most of the wearable devices like Apple Watch will have such functions built in and you will only have to activate them.
Smart Farms
This technology is very similar to the mentioned above smart homes but it has larger scales and more parameters to control.
Similarly, smart farming solutions can help farmers to control the parameters vital to the livestock such as temperature, humidity, power outage, pulse water meter sensing, independent water meter auger runtime, CO2, air speed, light intensity, dry contact and many others. This is very similar to smart home technology, but the scales of such systems are significantly greater.
A single cattle barn may require really a lot of sensors to be installed to control all the parameters. Luckily modern technologies enable you to have all the data and controls available at your mobile phone. So it is much easier to be a farmer today than even 30 years ago.
Telehealth
All the advanced sensors and high speed internet connections enable doctors to accrue patient data without any delay, assist colleagues during the surgery, or just to provide remote clinical services, such as, consulting, diagnosis and health monitoring. So a patient does not have to go to hospital for every medical exam but rather to adjust some sensors and contact the doctor via the internet.
Good isn’t it? Even better in the world under the pandemic. Telehealth has the great potential benefits for people living in remote areas. Now the medical help is more convenient for them than ever before.
Smart City Technologies
We all hate traffic jams. We all hate pollution, crime and all adverse things about the city we live in. Luckily modern technologies also can help here as well.
Already a lot of cities use smart traffic lights to control the traffic via adjusting the times in accordance with traffic load on particular crossroads or streets. They exchange data with the datacenter and based on advanced algorithms traffic is being controlled.
Pollution monitoring systems provide live data to scientists and researches enabling them to monitor emissions. For instance if some factory increases the emissions significantly officials will have this info right on the way.
Final Thoughts
Modern world has modern problems that require modern solutions. Smart technologies must be used to improve the quality all over the world and not only in order to increase personal comfort.
Smart living along with solving complex business problems must solve the problems of entire societies. Telemedicine is more important for smart living rather than smart locks or any other smart home product.
It is really nice to have Alexa and Google Assistant, but we should move really forward on the lead of development of smart technologies and keep in mind that each and every technology must be aiming for the common good.