IoT news of the week for October 29, 2021

LEGO inspired Volvo to make a smart, modular wheel loader: Volvo Construction Equipment has built a 5-ton electric wheel loader that was inspired by a LEGO Technic model. Volvo and LEGO created a partnership back in 2018 to help design LEGO Technic kits. But the engineers at both companies saw the LEGOs as an inspiration and built a real wheel loader with modular parts that can be removed or added to tweak the design to manufacture it in different sizes. This isn’t a vehicle that Volvo is making just yet, but it’s an inspiring story about how unlikely partnerships can create innovative ideas. As for the IoT angle, the wheel-loader is a sensor-equipped robot that can be programmed to do a job and can also react to the environment in real time. (Volvo)

Check out the data your smart speaker collects: PCMag has created a nice resource showing the types of data that various digital assistants collect about their owners. Amazon’s Alexa and Samsung’s Bixby seem to know the most, with Alexa being more of a concern since it’s in more homes. But I also think it’s worth noting that much of the data these devices collect is designed to make certain processes easier, such as using a smart display to call a friend or paying for something using your voice. It’s also worth noting that in some cases you’ll be asked to opt in to sharing certain information, such as your contacts. But given how many people are unaware of what these devices know and store, these charts are a public service. (PCMag)

Qualcomm’s smart city plans get a customer: Three weeks ago, I had Sanjeet Pandit, the head of Qualcomm’s smart city, on the podcast, where he spoke about the need to build better broadband before we can have smart cities. He alluded to success in signing up customers for broadband networks that could then be used for smart city deployments. This week, Qualcomm said it would work with CircleGX to deploy a private LTE network using CBRS spectrum in Dallas County, Tex. The network will provide broadband to underserved users as well as the infrastructure for smart lighting and sensors that Qualcomm and its partner Zyter will provide. Eventually, Dallas County could use that infrastructure for other smart city deployments, such as traffic management or smart classrooms. One of the big questions I had for Pandit when I spoke with him was how cities pay for such infrastructure. He spoke vaguely about revenue-sharing opportunities and said we’d find out more as cities announced the networks. However, in this case, I’m still not sure. The CEO of CircleGX said that residents can use federal broadband credits to pay for the connectivity provided by the CircleGX network, and then said the Chamber of Commerce was working on discount vouchers for people who shop at local businesses. At best, the plan didn’t sound fully thought out, and at worst it represents another effort to prey on poor people who need broadband but might have to give up their privacy and data in order to get it. (Qualcomm)

It was Alexa all along! This week, Amazon’s Alexa Smart Properties business said it would deploy Alexa smart speakers and displays in hospitals and senior living facilities. During the pandemic, Amazon has been testing the use of Alexa in senior living facilities as a way to keep residents connected with their families. Hospitals will use Alexa differently. By letting patients call nurses to make requests using Alexa — as opposed to hitting a call button, which requires that the nurse walk to the room and then take a second trip to get and bring back whatever is needed — Alexa speakers or displays can help boost productivity. Patients can avoid having Alexa in their rooms if they’d like, and Amazon says none of the data will leave the hospitals or be stored on Amazon’s cloud. So while I think some patients will shun Alexa for privacy reasons, most will accept it. After all, in a hospital setting people are sick and want to get better; they’re not focused on fighting for digital privacy. But what’s remarkable to me is that Alexa in this case is a Trojan horse, sneaking into patient rooms as a productivity tool that could easily become a platform for voice interaction with patient medical records. Instead of writing on a patient’s chart, doctors or nurses could tell Alexa the details and have that information shared with Epic or whatever patient record system the hospital uses. So while the platform might provide a way for developers to offer skills that can inform or entertain patients, it could easily grow into something far more interesting. I’d keep an eye on this. (Amazon)

Connectivity means more consolidation in the commercial lighting business: GE Current (Daintree) is acquiring the commercial lighting business of Hubbell Inc. for $350 million. While mostly of interest to the lighting world, the consolidation here is driven by the long life of LEDs and the transition to providing lighting as a service that has arisen because connected lights also make a great home for other sensors that can help drive service revenue. As products become connected and product makers turn to services for revenue, consolidation makes a lot more sense. It allows for a larger footprint and economies of scale as well as the option to add new services. (Lighted Mag)

Smart button maker Flic has a new product coming out: If you’re a fan of smart buttons (and who isn’t?), then get ready for the Flic Twist, a smart button that also acts as a dimmer. The Flic Twist will launch via a Kickstarter on Nov. 2 and will ship in January for an early bird price of €79 ($92.39). (Shortcut Labs)

Get your IoT device ready for Verizon’s 5G network: If your IoT device was certified to work on Verizon’s network, then get excited because now it will also work on the carrier’s 5G network provided it has the appropriate radios. I’m not sure how many IoT products in the wild are ready for 5G given the cost of the modules and the amount of power 5G radios require, but if you’re building a latency-sensitive, big bandwidth product this is good news for you. In probably more relevant news for IoT companies is that Verizon has certified a $4, low-power module for its network, which is a pretty good price for a cellular modem to provide connectivity. (ZDNet)
Semtech launches a sensor service to protect users from RF exposure: Semtech, which makes mixed-signal chips including LoRa radios, has launched a new line of people-sensing chips called PerSe designed for smartphones and other areas where a lot of radios might be crammed into a small space. The idea is that the PerSe products will help detect people nearby (PerSe is a portmanteau of person sensing) and then regulate the nearby wireless signals to comply with safety regulations. It’s possible that some devices using certain wireless bands cannot transmit data at full power because it would be considered unsafe for nearby people. But if someone isn’t standing too close, then the data transmission can continue at higher power and complete the transfer faster. With easily-attenuated spectrum, such as mmWave spectrum used in 5G, safety becomes a valid concern, and optimization based on distance could help improve device performance.  This sort of sensor tech might find homes on smartphones, wearables, and other personal devices worn close to the body. (Semtech)

Samsung and Amazon’s Eero are betting on Matter: Sure, it’s delayed, but companies are starting to promote their plans for the Matter smart home standard, with Eero and Samsung being the latest. For more, check out Kevin’s article. (Stacey on IoT)