Consumer IoT Applications – Experience the Next Wave of Innovation
In this article, we will go over various consumer IoT applications. We shall first look at how IoT can help consumers in their day-to-day activities and the two consumer IoT types and then at 10 fascinating consumer applications. So buckle up, and read till the end of the article!
What is CIoT?
I have already written an extremely in-depth article on consumer IoT where I discussed many topics like differences between IoT and CIoT, trends in CIoT, the various use cases of CIoT, and many more topics. Nonetheless, a quick and brief summary won’t hurt.
We all know that IoT has many uses in many domains. For example, the IoT hardware and software used for industrial purposes is called IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things). Similarly, IoT applications, including hardware and software systems that consumers can access and use, come under the CIoT (consumer Internet of Things) category.
Each CIoT device has a unique identification (UID) to notice and access the devices easily. These devices also integrate with standards and protocols that offer security performance and reliability. This makes sharing data from one device to another easier via a standard computer.
What are the types of CIoT?
Consumer IoT is broadly classified into two types:
1. Personal IoT: IoT devices used for personal use, such as watches and phones, come under the personal category of consumer IoT. These devices include smart watches, wearables, smartphones, etc
2. Smart Home IoT: It includes home appliances operating under an IoT ecosystem. The devices in a smart home have access to the internet, sense the environment around them and retrieve data from devices simultaneously. Some examples of these devices are smart TVs, virtual assistants, smart switches, bulbs, and plugs.
Applications of CIoT
If you want to understand CIoT in-depth, read my other article on it, but for this article, we will keep it solely for applications. Here are 10 notable examples of how IoT makes our life extremely easy:
1. Smart Homes
Smart home IoT is a complete game changer! When you set up a proper ecosystem such that the devices are interconnected and communicate with each other, you can create wonders with your smart home ecosystem. Here are a few such examples:
a. If you have a virtual assistant like google or Alexa, you can turn on/off your appliance by just using your voice.
b. You can set up automation tasks like turning on lights at a specific time, turning off the air conditioner at night, etc.
c. Pair your security cameras with a smart doorbell, and it can start recording when it detects motion in front of your door automatically. Using the app, you can also remotely lock and unlock your door.
d. You can also schedule pre-programmed tasks, or they could just be triggered when specific parameters have been met.
These are very few examples of smart house applications. You can set many routines and automation using your smart home ecosystem.
2. Smart Office Environment
We can also use IoT in work and office environments to reduce time and cost-effectively. Here are some examples of IoT in workspaces:
a. Security Systems
It obvious that tons of goods worth millions need proper security. So, industrial organizations use IoT devices like cameras, motion sensors, and many more to maintain the safety of their locations and job sites. IoT security cameras can even protect your house by monitoring every angle and sometimes even turning the lights on and off to show a person is inside the house
b. Safety Applications
Safety is very important to maintain a secure and proper workplace. So, safety devices like smoke detectors, pollution monitors, temperature regulators, chemical detectors, and many more examples are used in factories.
c. Machine Sensors
Industries use numerous sensors in factories to supervise the functioning of a machine. These sensors monitor machine functioning, and These sensors monitor machine functioning and can track and manage numerous activities. These activities include beginning and ending a cycle, dangerous operating condition alerts, maintenance monitoring, and more. These sensors can also send notifications when a machine is not working.
d. Project Management
Industrial IoT devices can also be used to manage projects that industrial, manufacturing, and construction organizations rely on to complete crucial tasks.
e. ERP-Integrated IoT Devices
IIoT devices can also be integrated with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) to carry out maintaining tickets, supply chain monitoring, procurement, predictive analytics, and many other tasks.
3. Consumer Healthcare
IoT devices play a vital role in the fitness and healthcare of consumers. Both doctors and consumers themselves use IoT. Here are a couple of IoT devices that are helping consumers be healthy and fit:
a. Wearable Healthcare Devices
Most smartphone and watch companies have a smartwatch that contains numerous biologic sensors to monitor patient vitals, heart rate, hormone levels, etc. apart from smartwatches, there are even rings and bands that do the same.
b. Baby Monitors
This application may not entirely come under this domain, but it still is a boon for working parents and also parents of newborns. For example, there are IoT cameras that send a live video feed to an app that can notify the parents of the baby’s movements. There are various other IoT sensors that can monitor the baby’s breath rate changes, heart rate changes, blood oxygen levels, etc.
c. Activity Trackers
These devices are very similar to wearable devices but are bigger in form factor and more advanced than smartwatches. Activity trackers also track fitness activities such as calories burned, steps, heart rate, body fat percentage, etc.
d. Patient Implants
Implants that are connected (basically IoT implants) help doctors to get real-time insights into crucial biological data. These are primarily used on critical and old patients.
4. Personal Assistants
We have all heard of Google assistant, Siri, Alexa, Bixby, and Cortana. When used right, these virtual assistants can do pretty much anything! Provided they are paired with other smart devices. Here are some examples of virtual assistants taking the roles of some personal assistants:
a. Butler
These personal assistants can pretty much do anything you ask. They can be a perfect butler, just like Alfred is to Batman!
b. Chef
These still need to be fully implemented, but these personal assistants can aid you with recipes, make coffee, heat your food, and much more.
c. Nanny
IoT can act like a mum or dad through controlling access, baby monitors, and small friendly smart robots.
d. Gardner
The IoT structures of a farm can also be taken into consideration for home landscaping, as they can automatically activate the sprinklers in the garden when the soil moisture is low.
e. Repairman
Smart systems carry out key maintenance and repairs and send requests to hire them, as these virtual assistants can send notifications regarding the same.
f. Security Guard
As we saw, smart security systems are already powerful enough. Still, when you combine them with a virtual assistant, they will give you voice messages and notifications when they find something suspicious or when someone is at your door.
5. Banking
IoT devices can also be very useful in banking and other financial services. If there is any sector where IoT devices are used extensively, it has to be financial services. Let us look at some examples of such IoT technology:
a. ATMs
Even though all of us have seen an ATM, most don’t even know the full form of it! ATMs or Automated teller machines are connected devices that allow users to perform banking activities remotely.
b. Payment Cards
Credit cards and debit cards are complete game changers, but the cards we are talking about here are entirely different. These cards provide two-way communication between banks and users, including transaction data, and banking information. They also provide a display where users can get answers when they need help.
c. POS Terminals
Fintech is becoming increasingly popular. Why? Because consumers demand more convenience and accessibility for their favourite banking services. Due to this, many fintech companies offer connected POS terminals that store and record transaction data in real time.
d. Asset monitoring
Many banks use IoT security for banking and financial services. These include intelligent asset monitoring that tracks each device on its network.
6. Asset Tracking
Every day thousands of electronic gadgets like phones, computers and tablets are being either lost or stolen. Using IoT, we can reduce this. For example, we can enable GPS trackers and track lost or stolen gadgets.
The same applies to pets and personal belongings. one fine example of this is Apple’s airbags. When combined with an App on our smartphone, these trackers can track down whatever is lost or stolen. In addition, we can track these objects with LPWAN technologies such as LoRa, NBC, SigFox, and so on.
7. Caregiving
With intense schedules and deadlines, today’s adults live a hectic life. Due to this, they find it hard to check up on the condition of their loved ones. It is not due to laziness or something else. There is simply much to keep up with in this generation compared to the older generations.
However, thanks to IoT, there are sensors and cameras that monitor and record the movements of babies and elderly family members. Moreover, a smartphone application raises an alert in case of unidentified or abnormal activity.
8. Entertainment
With the rise of VR games, web3.0, and metaverse, IoT devices in the market for augmented reality are no less. The idea behind these IoT devices is that users can wear a device enabling them to interact with the software connected to the IoT and create virtual experiences in the real world. Let us look at some Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality IoT devices:
a. Mobile AR (Feature Tracking)
All the current smartphones coming out of the factory are now equipped with this familiar feature. It is used for scanning QR codes, identifying plants, or bringing photos to life when viewed through the lens.
b. Mobile AR (Depth Sensors)
Again, numerous flagship smartphones have a depth sensor to capture better pictures. These sensors also use simultaneous localization and mapping to learn about the space around you and create a 3D virtual experience.
c. Head-Mounted VR
These IoT devices are the ones you wear on your head. One fine example is a head-mounted AR glass. These devices display information as if it were right in front of your face.
9. Lifestyle
IoT devices are extremely helpful in lifestyle planning too. Here are some examples:
a. IoT devices make vacation planning easy. For example, IoT can analyse your budget and choices and list out destinations accordingly. It also has the power to plan hotel room bookings and popular tourist site tickets to save time.
b. Nowadays, hotels, bars, and restaurants are using IoT-enabled devices to track their customers’ choices to provide better facilities and raise the overall brand identity.
10. Wearable IoT devices
We saw that wearable devices are primarily used in the healthcare industry. However, they are also becoming famous for uses other than smartwatches or simply health trackers. For example, these wearable IoT devices are being used to defend workers in factories, which means they are also used within the commercial net of factors.
The demand for these wearable technologies is increasing day by day. Some examples of such devices include smart watches, Bluetooth key trackers, Smart belts, GPRS body control, smart earphones, smart finger devices, and more.
These are only a few scenarios and fields where consumers can use IoT in their day-to-day activities. However, there are countless more examples where IoT can be used to improve and simplify human lives.
Summary
You have now learned many applications where regular people like you and me can use IoT for the betterment and simplification of our lives. In this article, we have seen 10 fantastic examples like smart homes, banking, lifestyle, healthcare, entertainment, tracking assets, and more.