CES 2015 – The “Internet of Things”

Every January, technology giants and start-up innovators alike converge in Las Vegas to showcase their latest gadgets and future technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). While nerds around the world “ooh” and “ahh” over massive TVs that will cost more than a small car – provided they ever make it to market – and toys that George Jetson is more likely to get a chance to play with before the rest of us do, I look for products that herald the future of our day to day technology. Here’s what CES 2015 says the future has in store.

Cars will drive themselves, at least some of the time. We’ve been hearing about them for years, but several manufacturers at this year’s CES demonstrated major advances in automotive technology. Audi sent an A7-based research model on a self-driven journey from San Francisco to Las Vegas to show that the future of safe driving will involve less human interaction. BMW’s i3 electric car will break for you if you get too close to an obstacle, such as the bumper of the car parked in the stall adjacent to yours.

Self-parking vehicles were all the rage. Hyundai and Volkswagen joined BMW in previewing cars that will save you the headache of driving around a parking garage looking for an empty space. Just drive into a parking garage, get out, and the vehicle will search out an available space and park itself. When you’re ready to leave, use your smart phone or smart watch to hail your car and it will return to you, no valet needed.

Automated vehicles (or at least cars with automated features) were showcased by Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler. The sheer volume of vehicles with automated features tells us that this technology is at least approaching mainstream, and we will likely have reasonably accessible adaptive-assist features in the cars we drive every day within the next decade.

Lest you think you can snooze through your commute, auto manufacturers are also integrating facial cameras and sensors to ensure that the driver remains alert. They hope to mitigate potential liability by ensuring that the driver remains ultimately in control. But the safety ramifications of these innovations are pretty amazing – imagine the reduction in accidents if vehicles (including transport trucks) are designed to avoid obstacles.

Devices will charge themselves. Energous’ new WattUp system utilizes a combination of RF, Bluetooth and secret fairy dust (kidding, but it’s a lot of newfangled cool stuff) to locate, communicate with and charge compatible devices within a roughly 15-foot vicinity. To be compatible, devices would need a tiny chip, on that Energous has designed to be small enough to be easily integrated into mobile devices, wireless speakers, appliances, even kids toys. The WattUP transmitter then sends focused RF signals that are absorbed and converted into DC power by the chip.

Imagine, never having to replace the batteries in your kid’s favorite gadget, and never having to worry about remembering to plug in your phone before it dies. That new health tracker or smart watch will remain ever-vigilant, even if you forget to take it off.

Lest you think you’d be tethered to a 15-foot radius around your transmitter, the chips are able to seamlessly jump from one transmitter to another, determining which is nearest and supplying the strongest signal. The transmitter is able to gauge which nearby devices are most in need of a boost and can prioritize those low on power.

Energous has partnered with, so far, Foxconn (the company that makes more of the world’s electronics than any other single company), SK Telesys (South Korea’s second largest conglomerate after Samsung), and several other gadget manufacturers, including appliance manufacturer Haier and the maker of Hexbot toys. This bodes well for the future of self-charging electronics.

Drones. So. Many. Drones. I’m not convinced that the average person has any justifiable need to have a personal drone, yet these miniature flying robots were all over CES. At this point in their development, drones offer those members of the populace that are attracted to the idea of strapping a GoPro camera on themselves, or their cat, an avenue to have a camera instead fly around after them. Joy! I can only imagine going to a concert or live performance where a third of the spectators have flying drone cameras on hand to “get a close-up.”

And yet, there are some serious ramifications to the explosion of drone technology, some good and some frightening. I can definitely see the benefit of having super small, advanced flying cameras that can be remotely controlled when law enforcement officials are tracking a suspect, to locate and send aid to victims after a disaster, or for the military. But in the hands of the average Joe, it seems more likely to be used for self-promotion or voyeurism, neither of which strikes me as something to get excited about.

Get used to hearing the term, “Internet of Things.” This concept relates to having just about everything you interact with (from average household objects, to jewelry to plants) made “smart,” through the addition of a chip or sensor that “connects” it to the Internet, allowing you to control or monitor just about everything in your home – or even your body – using your smart phone or computer.

Have you been eagerly awaiting a refrigerator that monitors your milk supply and sends you an alert to buy more when it senses you’re running low? How about a coffee pot that welcomes you home with an offer to brew you a fresh pot of Joe? Then the future is looking bright.

CES 2015 – The “Internet of Things”