M2M : Machine 2 Machine

An M2M experiment launched in Florida to control peak energy demands in. I woudl not be surprised as more services of this nature are rolled out.

A Florida utility wants it customers to use remote managed thermostats. They offer it for free and even provide free installation. This allows customers to control the temperature from any internet enabled device.
Florida Power & Light Company will provide Internet-ready programmable thermostat, a remote control device that can be used when you’re at home, at work, or on vacation.
Along with not charging for the thermostat, FPL will install it for free. In return, the customer agrees to let FPL occasionally cycle the air conditioner for short periods of time, only when necessary, to conserve energy during heavy demand. However, the customer always has the ability to override the utility’s remote control over the air conditioner via the internet or by calling a toll-free number provided by FPL. FPL will also offer devices to control Pool pumps and Heaters.

So whats in it for the consumer?
The consumer will get access to these cool gadgets and credits on their utility bill. This allows FPL to cycle off these devices for brief periods, if needed. In return, participating customers receive monthly credits from FPL on their electric bills. Called On Call, this program means the utility can better manage overall electricity demand and that ensures reliability. For customers participating in the thermostat pilot program, On Call credits will only be offered for the pool pump and the water heater.

Here we have a doctor who used a laptop, BroadBand and remote Robot to perform a brain surgery. A flavor of things to come
I do not see a widespread use of this in the very near future for performing operations but the use of this set up for performing remote checkups and consultations will grow dramatically as the costs are aligned.

Quote form the article -

“Yes, it was a robot. It was amazing,” Jeanne MacDonald told her husband over the phone Thursday from her bed in the neurosurgery unit at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.

On Wednesday, neurosurgeon Dr. Ivar Mendez replaced the battery and leads on a spinal stimulator that had been implanted in Ms. MacDonald four years ago to control her debilitating pain.

Earlier Thursday, without leaving his laboratory in Dalhousie University’s Sir Charles Tupper Building, Dr. Mendez used a robot to examine Ms. MacDonald’s surgical wound and help research co-ordinator Paula Chiasson, at Ms. MacDonald’s bedside, program the implant.

Relying on a laptop computer, a joystick and a broadband Internet connection, Dr. Mendez deftly steered the person-sized robot through the cramped space of a two-person room at the Halifax Infirmary.

With a pair of eye-like lenses above the robot’s fully manoeuvrable flat-screen head, Dr. Mendez zoomed in on the incision, took a picture for the patient’s record and checked the readings on the device used to calibrate the stimulator. He talked to Ms. MacDonald and asked Ms. Chiasson questions from two blocks down Summer Street.

Ms. MacDonald and fellow patient Heather Carver greeted the arrival of the steel grey robot, with Dr. Mendez’s face displayed life-sized on its screen, as if it was the doctor himself.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Ms. MacDonald said after the checkup. “I was just very happy to see his face.”

She said Dr. Mendez had also used the robot to check on her the night before from his home.

“He was like a kid with a new toy,” she said. “It’s so exciting.”

The robot, which began making rounds in Halifax about 10 days ago, is the first of its kind in Canada and one of only a few in North America.

Valued at about $200,000 and manufactured by InTouch Health of Santa Barbara, Calif., the robot was bought through an anonymous gift to the QEII Foundation.

Is M2M the next Web 3.0?
We had the
Web 1.0 our plain old internet
Web 2.0 = many definition - user generated content, fat applications, interactive applications etc etc
Web 3.0 = Internet for Machines

What does Web 3.0 mean?
Machines are able to share information and make collaborative decisions. There are more machines than people in the world. Autonomous traffic generated by machines i.e not originated by web surfing etc is steadily climbing up. The number of sensors deployed is increasing at a rapid pace. The technologies to form local networks, communication channels are steadily increasing – RFID, ZigBee, BlueTooth, and more. There is more intelligence and CPU processing power built into autonomous devices – think about your toaster from 10 years ago to the one today with all the fancy settings. Taken together this leads to a perfect storm – where the machines are now able to form autonomous groups to exchange information and react to it.

What are the impediments to the 3.0 evolution?
The lack of a killer application that dominates the market place and mind space – similar to what email did to Web 1.0.

Novazone has partnered with Dust networks to provide continiuos monitoring of produce in transit using the Mesh technology provided by Dust Networks.

Application Type: Continuous Monitoring
Technology: Wireless Mesh Network
Cost Saving: Lower spoilage rate, Reduced Manual Monitoring

Novazone’s PurFresh product is integrated into a shipping container’s air flow system, and uses ozone to reduce decay, improve quality and enhance safety of fresh produce shipped worldwide. With the system, ozone concentration levels are monitored and controlled via wireless plant-level communications based on Dust Networks’ WSN products. The Dust-enabled solution allows all containers to be monitored from a central location in a shipping yard, with no need for monitoring of individual containers. By using Dust’s network-ready products, based on the company’s Time Synchronized Mesh Protocol (TSMP), Novazone was able to bring PurFresh to market significantly faster than it would have with other solutions.

In the past I have focused exclusively on M2M applications for monitoring the health, performance characteristics of machines. The gist of this type of application was – continuously collect operations data from the machine and then predict when the machine could fail or verify that the machine is operating within in its defined range.

A company – Alcohol Monitoring Services – provides a system where a bracelet on the person’s ankle constantly monitors the persons blood alcohol level and reports back to central system. Here you have a case of machine monitoring man and ensuring that the man is in compliance J Is this going to be the future - We already have Traffic cameras, Face Recognition cameras at Airports and more

The Company