We all are well acquainted with the two dynamic technologies namely Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things and there is no doubt about how these two technologies are fast changing the present scenario. From managing inventories to improving personalized shopping experiences and assisting in data mining, AI and IoT together are transforming how people do business today. Talking in simple terms, AI is referred to as a technology that allows machines to imitate human behavior smartly. With AI, machines are becoming intelligent and smarter in executing various tasks. IoT, on the other hand, is referred to as a network of devices and sensors that are connected to the internet. The growth of IoT devices over the past few years is illustrated in the graph below.
While AI has surpassed other technologies by performing tasks like decision making, speech recognition, language understanding and lot more, IoT has changed the way we deal with the technology and has revolutionized the way the tremendous amount of data from multiple sources is captured. IoT analytics is helping a lot many companies like oil and gas, transportation, manufacturing, insurance, and other retail sectors in improving the performance and delivering better results. IoT is helping companies in making informed decisions with a torrent of interactional and transactional data.
How IoT can be benefited from Artificial Intelligence?
Now, the question arises as to how these two technologies blend in such a way that the results are simply incomparable? Well, the Internet of Things produces an unimaginable amount of data and various organizations around the world are still wondering about the management of this vast data. This data collected cannot be ignored as it is related to customers, their personal information, behaviors, purchasing habits, etc. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes into play. Yes, IoT allows the flow of data between devices and AI helps make sense of this data. IoT is used to collect and handle the huge amount of data that is required by the Artificial Intelligence algorithms. This, in turn, converts the data collected by IoT into useful actionable data that can be implemented by IoT devices.
The perfect combination of AI and IoT can transform industries in a way that they see massive growth in data every day. This can be understood in simple language: IoT is considered as body and AI is the brain and together they create business models, revenue streams and services to generate more revenue and increase profits. From healthcare to retail, manufacturing, banking, automotive, there are innumerable sectors that are benefiting from these two bulging technologies.
Industries benefiting from AI and IoT
Individually, these two revolutionary technologies have their benefits but their true potential can only be realized together. Many applications like Digital Twins, Smart Retailing, Smart Cities, Drones, Collaborative Robots, etc. use Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things together for the effective result. Let’s talk about some of them.
Digital Twins
Digital Twins as the name indicates are twin objects where one is a real-world object; the other is its digital replica. Airplane engines and wind turbines use Digital Twins to analyze the performance of the objects without the need of using the traditional testing methods thereby minimizing the costs required for testing.
Smart Cities
With the help of a network of sensors attached to the physical city infrastructure, various factors like pollution, water usage/wastage, energy efficiency, traffic conditions, etc. can be monitored and changes are made accordingly to make the cities smart.
Smart Retailing
Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things are used together by retailers for understanding customer behavior by studying the consumer’s profile online, checking the in-store inventory, etc. Thereafter, real-time personalized offers are sent to the customer while the customer is in the store.
Drones
We all know how drones have become quite popular in the recent past, we have also discussed the possible future of Drones in the Package Delivery Ecosystem. Drones are the aircraft without a human pilot. The drones are operated by software and they are used for navigating the unknown surroundings and places that are beyond the reach of the Internet. Also, it can be made to reach places like war zones, mines, burning buildings, etc. that are hazardous for humans.
How the blend of AI and IoT is helping the businesses to grow at an ever-increasing pace in terms of profit and how things are managed can be well understood with the help of some real-world examples.
Practical Applications for AI and IoT
Nest Labs: Nest Labs uses IoT and AI has come up with Smart Thermostat. IoT helps in checking the temperature and controlling it from anywhere using smartphone integration. Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, is used to understand the temperature preferences of the users and also their daily schedule. This thermostat then adapts accordingly for optimal temperature and also maximum energy savings.
iRobot Roomba: It is a smart automated vacuum cleaner that has been developed by three members of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. The robot makes optimum use of IoT and AI to clean a room as efficiently as possible. This robotic vacuum cleaner uses a set of sensors to detect obstacles, dirty spots on the floor or even steep drops such as stairs. It remembers the layout of the place and uses the most efficient and economical movements for cleaning. The performance requirements with Clean, Spot Dock mode, etc. can be adjusted with the smartphone app.
WildTrack FIT: WildTrack’s footprint identification technique (FIT) uses IoT and AI algorithms that help in identifying the species, individual, age and gender of an animal from its unique footprint. This data can be used to recognize patterns relating to animal movements, species population, etc. that help in preserving various endangered species.
Tesla Motors Self Driving Cars: The tech pioneer has brought a significant change in the automotive world with its self-driving cars. Tesla has always put data collection and analysis at the heart of everything it does. These self-driving cars by Tesla share information about the road that has already been mapped out. This information includes the actual path, traffic, and how to navigate around any obstacles. All of this data is shared between IoT connected cars and is uploaded wirelessly to a cloud system to be analyzed and put to use improving the automation.
These are just a few real-world examples that make us understand the vital role AI and IoT are playing in today’s business world scenario. Together, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things are shaping the smart era. These technologies help businesses in managing, analyzing and obtaining meaningful insights from data, ensuring speedy and accurate analysis, balancing personalization with confidentiality and data privacy, increasing operational efficiency, improving products and services, enhancing risk management, etc.
The tremendous growth in the popularity of IoT and AI has been discussed several times but how these technologies have left an impact on various aspects of our personal and professional lives is worth applauding.
AI is a natural complement to IoT devices, enabling better offerings and operations to give a competitive edge in business performance.
There are tons of domains that are harvesting the advantages of the coexistence of both technologies. From managing inventories to improving personalized shopping experiences and assisting in data mining, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) is transforming how people do business today.
