IoT Example: The Refrigerator

The point of this lecture is really to just introduce the term Internet of Things. Just to define the term, give you some
kind of a general idea of what Internet of Things really is, what it's about. So we'll go through an example, a
refrigerator example. And talk about how a refrigerator can be integrated into the Internet of Things, and how it’s
different than just a regular, traditional refrigerator that you are probably used to. So let’s break down the term
Internet of Things. We're probably gonna start off with a thing of some kind. So in this case we're talking about a
refrigerator and a refrigerator is just a thing, so it can be anything besides a computer. Right? If it's a computer, we're
not calling that a thing, but anything besides a computer. Besides a traditional computer, a laptop, desktop, server
type of device, you'll call that a thing of some kind. And it has some features. It has some use. So in the case of a
refrigerator like this, we know what a refrigerator does. It keeps things cold and so on. So you start off with a thing.
Now the next thing you do is you add to that some type of computational intelligence. Usually that involves a
processor like what we're showing here. That's actually a picture of an R-Dweeno but it could be any type of
computational intelligence. Typically it's a micro controller of some kind, running some kind of code. So, you see
these devices all around your house. But it's the computer inside, right? So it doesn't look like a computer, it looks
like a thing of some kind. It looks like a refrigerator, but it actually has computational intelligence inside, so it's really
a computer hidden on the inside. And it's somehow is used to improve the functionality of the device, to make the
device do what it did before, but better. So that's what you start with, you start with a thing, you add some
intelligence, some computer technology inside it. Then, to top it off, you add Internet connectivity. Now, this is very
common in things, and that's where the term Internet of things comes from. You add some kind of Internet
connectivity. So now you've got a thing. It's got some kind of computation inside and it's got a network connection
which means it can use all sorts of other resources that are not local. Right? It can reach on the Internet. It's
potentially accessible from this IoT device. So all that put together is generally what you'd call an IoT device, an
Internet of Things device. You take the thing, you put some intelligence in there, and you put some network
connectivity. And remember that, from the outside, this device doesn't look that much different than it used to look,
right? It doesn't look like a computer, that's the main thing. It doesn't look like a computer. It doesn't have a full on
keyboard and a screen, it might have a screen, a few little buttons on it but it doesn't look like a standard computer.
You don't have to install Windows or iOS or Android or whatever the operating system is. It's none of that complexity.
So it's much simpler to use, just like the original thing was. So if you look at the now, the new refrigerator, it's not
gonna be hard to use. You still open a door, close a door, plug it into the wall, that sort of thing. Get ice out of it. The
same old simple interface. So traditional refrigerator, keeps items cold, right? This is a non Internet of Things. Keeps
items cold, you put things in it, food, whatever it is. A real simple interface, all right? Everybody knows how to use it,
and decades ago it was the same interface. Right? A hundred years ago, I don't know if they, yeah I guess I suppose
they had refrigerators a hundred years ago. Hundred years ago, you had a refrigerator that looked basically the same
thing. Now, an intelligent refrigerator, I'm using that term to mean refrigerator that now has some kind of
computational intelligence inside it. And you see a lot of this inside refrigerators nowadays. My fridge is like this. So,
for instance, it'll warn you when the door is ajar. Usually it'll beep in some way, but it could talk to you if it wanted
to, it doesn't matter. But it'll warn you that. It basically has some sort of sensors built in that tells if the doors are
shut. And if they're open for a certain amount of time, maybe they start a timer, if they're open for a certain amount
of time, an alarm goes off and that requires some kind of computational intelligence. It might tell you when the water
filter need replacing. Mine is annoying in that way, it tells me the same thing. So it starts beeping every time I try to
get water now, in fact right now I need a filter. So it just beeps and beeps and beeps every time I try to get water out
of it. So again it has some type of timer where it keeps track of the date. Says okay, this many days have gone by
since you last refilled the filters, you changed it. So again requires computational intelligence. Note that it doesn't
require networking yet right? These tasks are just computational tasks. It could tell you when you're low on butter.
Now my fridge doesn't do this, but you can imagine a refrigerator that has some sort of a sensor in there that can
sense. Maybe it has a camera in your butter tray and it senses when your butter is low. Right? Maybe it tests the
weight of your butter. Right? And if the weight is too low it says, okay. There isn't butter in here. You are low on
butter. It could easily warn you of that. Now mine doesn't do that. There are refrigerators that can do that sort of
thing. But, again, local intelligence is required. No real networking required to do that. It could also tell you when you
buy foods that are high on fat content. Now, this I've never actually seen such a refrigerator, but you could do this.
You could take a picture, the fridge itself could have a camera inside. Could take a picture of the food that you
ordered, look it up in some type of a library of food that it has, and look at the food content, look at the fat content
and cholesterol and so on, and it could warn you, right? And it could do this with local data, without network
connectivity, if you need it to. You can also have a set of recipes programmed into your refrigerator. I know there are
refrigerators that have this. They can be programmed into your fridge and they can suggest recipes for you based on
the foods it sees inside. So you've got milk, you've got butter, you've got this, you've got that, you can make pancakes
today. Something like this. So, that's another thing that, another feature that you can add on to an intelligent
refrigerator if you wanted to. And it requires this computational intelligence inside the refrigerator to do that, also
sensors, like cameras maybe, weight sensors, door sensors to see if the doors open and close, something like that.
And using all that together, you can enhance the properties of the refrigerator. So now this refrigerator, it does a lot
more than what it used to do, but it's still very easy to use, right? You don't have to do anything complicated. It tells
you the door is ajar, or something like that. It's not extra work for you, no learning curve, all right. So, you might call
that an intelligent refrigerator, but you'll notice that these features that I'm listing here. They don't require network
connectivity in general. So these things that I'm listing here, they can do that with local sensors, right? And local
processing that sense what's in your fridge and respond to you and give you information. So that's intelligent
refrigerator. But maybe you wouldn't call that Internet of Things, cuz it's not actually networked yet. So the ultimate,
the IoT refrigerator. The IoT refrigerator is basically the computational intelligence, but also network connectivity.
With the network connectivity you can add another set of features on top of that, that you couldn't have added
without the network connectivity. For instance, you can have your refrigerator actually order food for you when the
stock is low. That could easily happen. It can check, it could just go straight to Amazon. Amazon, I guess I shouldn't
advertise, but there are services from which you can go to supermarkets and order food, I use one of these services.
And they deliver food the next morning, actually. It's pretty amazing. Seven in the morning and the food will be there
in the door step. So, you can have your fridge detect that you are low on butter and then just order that, and then
the next morning, butter will appear on your doorstep. But that requires network connectivity. You have to be able
to connect to the network, and place the order, grab money out of your bank account, right, transfer it to whoever
you're purchasing it from, things like that. You can search for low food prices. So it also suggest to you look, you might
wanna buy this item. You're low on butter. Buy butter from here rather than there because it's cheaper. And in fact,
it can go ahead and just buy that, or it can just suggest to you. But again, that requires network connectivity. It would
have to connect to the network, go search around different sites, different super market sites, find the different
prices, compare them, and so on. It could order a water-filter when you need a water-filter. So rather than annoying
me and telling me, you need water-filter beep beep beep. It can just go and order that, and it could appear for me,
UPS could deliver it the next day. Right. So it can anticipate meals. It can be predictive. So it can know what kind of
food you have in your fridge and order what you need for tomorrow's meals, right. Took, and say oh, a good idea for
food for you tomorrow is this type of meal that you've had in the past. I will order whatever you need for that meal,
and then it'll appear in your doorstep the next morning. And then you'll have everything you need to cook what you
need for the next day. It can search news. Probably it could actually do more global type of searching. It could look
on news prices to see what global trends are, so for instance. And this is elaborate, but you could certainly do this. It
could look at news trends and say, oh it's El Nino. Right, the world is getting colder this year. That means that fruits
are gonna be more expensive, right. So I better stock up on fruits right now, because I know that in a few months I
won't be able to get them, right. Your machine can do that, your fridge could do that. Now I've never heard of a
refrigerator that does that, but that is certainly possible, if you have the computational intelligence inside the fridge
and you have network connectivity so it can actually execute the searches. It could also provide information to
businesses to tell them what you're buying, right? Now this maybe is not an advantage to you, but certainly some
store that's selling different type of food, it might want to market to you, so they might want to know these people
are buying this type of food a lot. So maybe we wanna market that type of food to them. That's another thing that
these devices do, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later. Thanks.