CeBIT Puts Spotlight on Internet of Things, Robotics, Security

By Wayne Rash

Protesters from Amnesty International greet attendees with banners deploring China’s human rights practices. They made sure they were seen in the front plaza of the Hannover Fair Grounds.

Standing to one side of the Amnesty International group, a second group of protesters complain about China’s restrictions on free use of the Internet.

This German-made Canyon bicycle is equipped with a reporting module that’s installed inside of the bike’s frame. The module includes a GPS and has a SIM card so that the owner can track the bicycle if it’s stolen, it can call emergency workers if it crashes, it can monitor its own maintenance needs, and it can even order spare parts.

Intel and Hewlett-Packard are demonstrating the practical use of an IoT device that’s available now. This wireless docking station can sense when a properly equipped laptop is within range and transfer control to the docking station. Dell is making a similar device. In either case, the laptop needs to be equipped with a new gigabit wireless communications device.

Designer Polina Slobodchikova from RoboChop begins a design using an iPad. The design will be produced on a networked industrial robot once she uploads it. The RoboChop software will run on any computer or mobile device running a supported browser. I was able to create a much less elegant design using my Windows laptop computer.

Slobodchikova shows how she draws the design using the browser-based drawing tool. Here she sketches the design with her finger. But you can use anything from a mouse to a digitizing tablet.

The robot shows off the first cut on Slobodchikova’s design. It will turn and rotate the high-density foam cube to align it properly with the cutting device. When it’s finished, the project will be placed on the shelves in the background, where it will later be collected for shipping. Anyone can try submitting a design at robochop.com during CeBIT. Designs that are chosen will be sent to the robots for production.

Managers from RoboChop can monitor the progress of the robot’s production in the management app. Here you can see Slobodchikova’s design in the process of being completed.

Evercam.io has developed a way to include standard cameras, whether they’re security cameras or something else, into the Internet of things by creating a management network that can talk to any of them. Here a security solution from Evercam links two security cameras and a camera phone into an IoT network so they can be used in a security system. The security systems can be aggregated and used to cover very large installations ranging from apartment and condominium complexes to factories.

Security is turning out to be a hot area for companies developing applications for the Internet of things. Here, a self-contained, multifunction IoT alarm from Novi is tripped by SD Times reporter Alyson Behr as she approaches the device. These multifunction alarms can be aggregated into a much larger system and can be assembled into a remotely monitored alarm system, or they can operate independently.

A SecuCloud representative shows how networked things can be made secure by linking them through a cloud management facility that controls their data streams and denies access to anything that’s not part of that particular network.

Representatives from Trumpf demonstrate a manufacturing on demand system by showing how they assemble the information in advance of starting a production project. Portions of this image would be extracted for use in creating a personalized insulated coffee mug.

The design is extracted from an original photograph (in this case an anonymous eWEEK columnist) and is sent to the laser etching device, where it’s etched into the stainless steel surface of the mug.

Here’s a look at the interior of the network-connected laser etching device that performed the final manufacturing steps in this IoT demonstration. And yes, this machine is built from the basic engineering prototype construction material of choice in nearly any industry, Legos.