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| Meta's flexible ReSkin sensor could be big in the smart home |
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| By Kevin Tofel |
While looking for new research on robotics last week, I caught the news from Facebook — I mean, Meta — about its new flexible sensor. It unveiled what it calls ReSkin technology for tactile sensing, created in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University researchers. I think this technology could have a lot of potential in the smart home.
ReSkin is essentially a low-cost ($6 per 100) flexible sensor meant to mimic the sense of touch from human skin. Because it can measure tactile pressure, non-human hands such as those of robots can pick up fragile objects without crushing them. Here's a video containing several ReSkin demonstrations, including one of a robotic gripper picking up grapes without turning them into pulpy juice.
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| — ReSkin sensor measuring different pressure points when filling a water glass. Image courtesy Meta. |
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This isn't the first time we've seen tactile technology. Earlier this year, the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Laboratory (CSAIL) showed off similar elastic sensors for robotic arms. Where ReSkin differs, however, is in how it gets data to its sensors.
Movement can cause tactile sensors to wear out over time. To prevent that from happening, Meta's ReSkin uses pressure to separate the tactile sensing material from the chip that reads and interprets the data.
Typically, a sensor requires some type of physical electrical connection between the two, which makes the touch-sensitive material difficult to replace. But since ReSkin uses magnetic signals to pass the "skin's" data to a chip, replacing the tactile skin is easily done.
"Because ReSkin is a deformable elastomer with embedded magnetic particles, when it deforms in any way, the surrounding magnetic signal changes. We can measure these changes with nearby magnetometers and use data-driven techniques to translate this data into information such as contact location and amount of applied force."
And because ReSkin can deform, much like skin, it doesn't just provide pressure data for a single spot; it can display multiple pressure points of varying levels.
So what the heck does ReSkin have to do with the smart home?
At the moment, nothing. For now, ReSkin is just a research project. However, all of the related design, relevant documentation, code, and base models for machine learning will be released to the public. There's already an open source GitHub repository to use ReSkin. That opens up a world of possibilities that up until now haven't been available in the smart home.
Here's one example. At some point almost every day, I sit in the same chair, either to work or to kick back and watch TV on a mobile device. If I take my seat at nighttime, I have to ask one digital assistant or another to switch on the lamp next to my chair. Sure, I could use a motion sensor. Or I could rig up some very basic pressure sensors and make my own "smart furniture" so the light goes on when I sit down. (I've tried the latter, but it's not a bulletproof solution due to the lack of precision.)
Now imagine what would happen if there were ReSkin sensors in the seat cushion instead. Not only would the chair know that someone has sat in it, but the amount of weight on the chair would signify who was sitting in it. That, in turn, would offer context as to what should happen next with the lights — I like daylight bulb colors, for example, while my wife prefers soft white. So in this case, the ability to identify who is sitting in the chair would enable a more personal smart home experience.
In this particular case, there would also be a potential wellness implication. Let's say the ReSkin sensors are in both the chair's seat cushion and the backrest. The chair would be able to prevent certain back or neck aches by monitoring the sitter's posture based on the pressure data those data sensors read. It would be nice, although a bit nagging, for the chair to sound an alert when bad posture is setting in.
Obviously reading and interpreting sensor data from ReSkin is only part of the equation. The data from my chair example still needs to be processed by some computing device to warn me of potential aches from my posture or know that I’m in the chair and want the lights on. That processed data will need integration with the smart home to fire up the lights in this situation. So I'm not suggesting that "2022 will be the year of smart furniture." I'm just trying to look beyond the obvious use cases of this technology.
And there are plenty in the smart home.
As a kid, I always got yelled at for messing with thermostat dials around the house. Add some ReSkin or similar technology to physical HVAC controls and you can ensure that making temperature changes requires a certain amount of hand pressure. Apply that concept to volume control and television remotes can quickly adjust sound output based on how much or how little pressure you use to control them.
Let's go one step further and look at smart locks that use numeric keypads. I'd say they're pretty secure as is, depending on the keycode used to configure the lock. But add pressure options to the number pad so that different numbers in the code are pressed at different pressure levels and you've got a much more secure front door.
I can envision a range of smart home use cases like these for ReSkin combined with machine learning models and connectivity. No, they won't be arriving any time soon, but they're out there, just waiting to be implemented. Until then, I'll just have to enjoy the idea of robotic hands that can pick up the grape I dropped while sitting in my dumb chair.
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| Scythe has a cool name and a good idea for security |
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When I talk to companies offering connected devices, I often ask them how they design their products with security in mind. I usually get a lot of information about encryption, secure elements on the chips, and bug bounty programs. Some of the companies I talk to actively hire researchers to do penetration testing on the device — and the organization — once a year or ahead of their product launches to make sure security efforts work.
Now enterprise IT organizations will have another tool to add to their repertoire, with Scythe. The Arlington, Va.-based company provides software and services that emulate system hacks and teach organizations how to respond. Its approach goes beyond penetration testing, which is like seeing if someone can get in the door, to seeing how a bad actor would behave once they've gotten in. |
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The idea isn't totally new, but it's uncommon. I saw a company offering emulations of an attack back in 2016 at a tech conference, though I cannot recall its name. But I liked the concept back then and I still like it today. And investors are apparently on board because they just gave Scythe $10 million in first-round funding.
Scythe offers software that companies run themselves on their own hardware. The software emulates attacks that seem likely to strike the customer. For example, a hospital likely to get hit with ransomware could use the software to create a cache of false data, monitor how the malware spreads from device to device, and then send emails out to affected workstations. From there, the hospital could see how the ransomware spreads as well as see how its security team and other employees handle it. Ideally, this isn't a punitive exercise, but an educational one that leads to better training.
Ransomware is top of mind for many organizations, but Scythe's approach is also useful when it comes to battling malware that invades enterprise software and then makes the leap to control systems or other connected devices that can affect the physical world. Bryson Bort, the CEO of Scythe and a well-known expert in the security industry, noted to me that attackers can compromise enterprise computers or a human-machine interface that connects to factory equipment, such as programmable logic controllers, and then take control of those systems. He cited the attack on a Florida water plant that started with accessing remote access software and then getting access to a machine that controlled the dispersion of lye into the water.
Because it's designed for enterprise computers, the Scythe software runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS. It won't run on embedded hardware or real-time operating systems, so this isn't going to emulate malware on your SCADA system, for example. Bort said the ability to run on embedded devices is a future possibility, although everyone who reads this newsletter knows embedded systems are so diverse and fragmented that it's a pain to build for them.
In addition to software, Scythe also provides customers with consulting services; it will help them deploy an emulation, then monitor how the customer's employees handle the malware, and help the customer develop strategies for specific types of malware. (More sophisticated clients tend to have teams that can do that on their own.) Scythe is also constantly adding new types of attacks and emulations to its software because security threats are not static. I like the emphasis on continuous education and adaptation; that's exactly the right approach to take with an evolving threat like cybersecurity.
Bort told me the recent funding will go to staffing up a sales team, but also to R&D, which will enable the company to rationalize its codebase so it runs faster without consuming as many resources. The goal is to build a modular set of attack emulations that companies can piece together to train their employees and tweak their computing environments so as to prevent or limit damage from attacks. It's a compelling vision. |
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| Episode 346: Three IoT acquisitions and the infrastructure bill |
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| This week's show focuses on three big deals happening in the IoT sector and a meaty enterprise IoT report. First up, we discuss ADT buying SunPro Solar for $825 million, which represents yet another deal bringing energy management to the smart home. We then talk about Level Home's acquisition, the state of smart home deals, and the multifamily dwelling unit market before digging into an enterprise IoT report from Oracle that offers some good surprises. For the final acquisition of the show, we cover Viasat's $7.3 billion buy of Inmarsat and explain a bit of the satellite economics I've written about recently. In smaller news, Kevin has found a neat HomeKit app and service, Wyze has a new outdoor light and camera, and GE's ovens are getting capabilities familiar to June users. We also share our gift guide picks and other ideas for the holidays. |
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| — GE will deliver a software update to its connected ovens that will make cooking a turkey a breeze. Image courtesy of GE. |
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| Our guest this week is Karen Lightman, the executive director of the Metro21 Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. She's on the show to talk about the passage of the $1.2 billion infrastructure bill by Congress. We talk about the impact this will have on smart cities and specific policy recommendations to ensure we get wide-reaching equitable broadband access. Because you can't have a smart city or even the internet of things without the internet. She also shares a bit about the backlash that the smart cities movement experiences as citizens grew concerned about their privacy and the rise of surveillance states, and talks about her hopes that companies will do more to build that trust. Myself, I think that's going to take government action, but we'll see. Enjoy the show. |
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This week on the IoT Podcast Hotline, we hear from a listener with low vision who is bummed about Facebook getting out of facial recognition.
The hotline is brought to you by Blues Wireless. Blues Wireless provides the Notecard, a cellular and GPS-enabled device-to-cloud data system-on-a-module. Each Notecard comes packaged with 500MB of data usable over 10 years for $69 or less. Connectivity is globally available in 136+ countries. Learn more. |
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| It's time for IoT platform vendors to shine! |
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| Enterprise IoT is moving out of its custom-built phase, and now customers are fine with off-the-shelf solutions with connectivity built in, according to a survey released this week from Oracle. Oracle surveyed 800 executives who have already deployed some IoT project about their thoughts, finding that how to connect isn't as much of a concern as what to do with the data once it's connected. While this finding is convenient for a database company, it's also matching what we're seeing in the real world as IoT providers wrap their hardware and software into a service that's usually paid for by the month and maybe by the message. The survey is full of good data, so check out the report if enterprise IoT is your jam. Image courtesy of Oracle. |
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| News of the Week |
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Density scores $125M for smarter buildings: Density, one of the startups I've watched grow from a small idea to a big company, has raised $125 million and acquired a LIDAR company that scans buildings to make 3D digital twins. Density makes a sensor that tracks the number of people in a building. I've liked its technology so far because it doesn't use cameras and is very privacy-centric. And it's been a hit with businesses, especially once we entered the pandemic and tracking the number of people became especially important. With the acquisition of HELIX RE, Density will be able to map people to 3D spaces; it will also allow landlords to see where people congregate and map that information to things like HVAC usage or lighting. This is a big area of investment even as we emerge from the worst of the pandemic because commercial buildings contribute to climate change by heavily using electricity even when people aren't present. Expect to see a lot more investment in this area going forward. (Density)
VergeSense raises $60M for its people-tracking service: Remember everything I said about energy consumption in buildings in the story above? Well, VergeSense is another company that makes sensors to track people in buildings, and it has raised $60 million. VergeSense uses computer vision and passive infrared, so it's not as privacy-conscious as Density's sensors, although the company does say it uses only low-resolution images and only metadata gets sent to the cloud. I'd prefer the image never gets taken in the first place, but the overall idea is similar to what Density offers. The focus is on helping companies track the use of their real estate in order to use the space most efficiently, especially as they shift to hybrid work plans. There are plenty of companies buying these solutions, so I expect to see more fundings and more acquisitions as time goes by. (VentureBeat)
Sigfox is offering prepaid plans to get companies to test its network: Low-Power, Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) provider Sigfox has created two different prepaid plans for customers that will let them test out its network before committing with a production-scale device. Sigfox has teamed up with Stripe to let customers buy connectivity for up to 10,000 devices in a one-year deal and more than 10,000 devices in a multiyear deal. That way, customers can select their plan and pay with a credit card as opposed to dealing with a sales team. (Enterprise IoT Insights)
The robots aren't coming. They're already here: Amid labor shortages (and fears of germs) factories, restaurants, and logistics companies are trying out robots in more jobs. This article stokes fears about the labor shortage driving this rush to robots, but I think that's pretty short-sighted. Thanks to my friend Chris Albrecht's newsletter about robots in the food industry, I know robots are actually helping bring higher- quality food to more places and that they also need repairs that require a person to come in and fix them. So what we may be seeing is an elimination of the harder jobs — such as moving items around a warehouse or cooking fries — in favor of those associated with robot maintenance orchestration and repair. (Bloomberg)
Fitbit beefs up its subscription with a readiness score: Man, if you were worried about me-too products in hardware, the trend toward delivering value via software is even scarier. Fitbit has copied a popular feature from the Whoop band and the Garmin fitness trackers by announcing a daily readiness score that uses a metric called heart rate variability to tell users if today is a good day to work out super hard or to take it a bit easy. I've tried this feature in the Whoop band and found it pretty accurate and helpful, although I ultimately decided against paying a monthly subscription for the Whoop band because that and other features felt like overkill. What's notable here is that Fitbit has easily added the feature (although who knows how effective its algorithm will be) and will charge a mere $10 a month, or $80 a year, for its premium service compared to between $18 and $30 for the monthly Whoop subscription, depending on how long you commit to the band. (Digital Trends)
Level Homes makes a smart pivot to subscriptions and apartments: This week, Level Homes, maker of the Level smart lock, said it has raised $100 million and acquired Dwelo, a provider of software services for apartments. Read my thoughts on the deal and why it makes a ton of sense. (Stacey on IoT)
More bad news on the chip shortage: The two things to note in this story are that Infineon's CEO is unsure whether the chip shortage will resolve in 2023 and that Infineon is passing on the higher prices it has to pay to its foundries to its customers, which means we'll see higher prices in some areas. This is also a really nice explainer of the dance that companies such as Infineon, Bosch, NXP, and others that use foundries as well as have their own chip fabs must do to keep their production goals while also trying not to overinvest. Seeing this, I hope that an increasing number of chip customers are doing more to help their suppliers anticipate demand. But I worry that's not the case, especially since most buyers are trying to buy out months or even years in advance to ensure their supplies. (Fortune)
Siemens medical devices have a critical vulnerability: Researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Siemens' Nucleus Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) that could let a hacker take over devices running the RTOS. The software is used in medical equipment that could interfere with patient diagnostics and monitoring, which would be a huge challenge for hospitals running affected equipment. Siemens has patched the vulnerability, but hospitals and doctors' offices are notorious for lacking the resources to monitor vulnerabilities and patch their software. It's a huge opportunity for security firms, except many hospitals don't have the budget. The FDA is getting more involved in securing hospitals, but we're not there yet. Maybe this will be the vulnerability that helps provide funding or resources to aid hospitals in securing their software and devices. (CNN)
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