I love IoT apps and devices that allow us to increase the efficiency of existing products and services, but long-time readers may remember that I have a special fond spot for “what can you do now that you couldn’t do before” when it comes to the IoT. These are things such as the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children collaboration that allows treating preemies for infections a full day before any symptoms, or the way Tesla did a recall without anyone having to come to a dealer. More often than not, the
More often than not, they stem from the fact that the IoT for the first time allows us to cure what I call “Collective Blindness,” and learn about the inner workings of things that were simply impossible to observe in the past.
Here’s a new one in that category: Fujitsu’s “Connected Cow” technology. Like the IBM researchers and docs who found that preemies’ heartbeats changed when they were developing the infection, ranchers observing data from cows wearing pedometers realized that the cows’ took more steps when they were in heat, allowing them to time artificial insemination for the precise time when the cows ovulated, resulting in higher fertilization rates. The “step count data [is sent] via the internet, analyzed in the cloud, and generates an email alert when there are signs of increased stepping.” It may be possible in the future to use the system to choose the calves gender.
It’s in use in Japan and South Korea, and is being tested in Poland, Turkey and Roumania.
