A new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is testing just how important attractiveness is by attempting to figure out who you’ll find attractive and why you find that person attractive. A team comprised of researchers from the University of Helsinki and Copenhagen University generated images of fake faces that they then asked people to rate for attractiveness. It then used that feedback to further tune the AI algorithm, making it perform even better at generating fake attractive faces.

Adversarial Strengths

The application, which uses a machine learning development algorithm called generative adversarial network (GAN), creates fake faces by pitting two “adversarial” algorithms against one another. Adversarial means the two algorithms have differing goals: one, called the generator, creates images based on what it learned during its training phase, and the other (called the discriminator) tries to figure out which of the generated images are fake or real. The latter algorithm is tested with photos of real people and fake faces.

The two algorithms eventually start training each other in a loop that allows the generator and discriminator to improve their performance greatly with each cycle. The generator improves its ability to create realistic images, and the discriminator gets better at finding fake faces. This symbiotic relationship may first sound unproductive, but the algorithms work well together and also successfully test each other.

The GAN algorithm was trained on 200,000 images of celebrities, who usually have attractive faces—at least, according to Hollywood standards.

Testing Attractiveness

After the training phase, the generative algorithm developed hundreds of unique faces of people who it believed were of similar attractiveness as the celebrities it “knew” to be attractive. These fake faces were shown to real people who wore brain-computer interfacing equipment hooked up to an EEG (electroencephalography) reader. Using this data, the researchers could measure each person’s brain activity for each photo they saw, down to the neuron’s exact moment of firing.

When a participant saw an image of an attractive face, there was a marked increase in brain activity. This could be partially attributed to the fact that the participants were told to focus harder on faces they thought were attractive. The participants weren’t asked to articulate what specifically they found attractive about any of the images. Instead, the AI stored the EEG datapoints and found the commonalities within each photo.

Those commonalities could be big eyes, high cheekbones, a medium-sized nose, wide-set eyes, small ears, or any other facial feature. The AI found that most participants liked the same aspects of a face in an image. In other words, humans seem to favor most of the same facial features when asked about attractiveness.

Using the common features found by the algorithm, the team distilled this data back down in a format that could be fed to the GAN algorithm. The generative algorithm then took this new information as instruction in making its second batch of attractive faces. Now, the faces had more chiseled jawlines, darker and more mysterious eyes, curlier hair, and more features that we find conventionally more attractive.

Real Looks vs. Fake Faces

When this second round of generated photos was shown to participants, they were instructed to rate the face as attractive or unattractive. For 87% of the newly-generated photos, participants rated the face as attractive. The remaining 13% were either too perfect or there was something that seemed off about their facial features. Even though the participants were told to focus on attractiveness, they were unable to look past how some faces looked fake or off.

AI developers and AI ethics experts worry that this type of well-performing technology could be used to generate faces that look realistic for the purposes of deepfake videos or fake images. Not only do the faces not need to be real, they don’t need to be attractive to cause issues for people or even nations. And the consequences don’t need to be so far-reaching: even social media accounts used for a malicious purpose could use AI-generated fake faces to blend in with the crowd. They might even look normal and real at a quick glance. After all, how much detail can you see in a small circular avatar?

The Future of Dating?

The future of this type of technology extends far beyond dating and social media. It could be used for political gain or even start a war. The research team is interested in advancing the technology, and it has some ideas for how to use their application in a productive and non-malicious way. Associate professor at the University of Helsinki, Tuukka Ruotsalo, says that the team hopes to dig deeper into attractiveness, as well as explore stereotypes, biases, preferences, and individual differences.

Have you come across an AI-generated face that was attractive but looked off? How did it make you feel? Let us know in the comments below!

As devices and sensors start becoming increasingly connected and technologically advanced, mobile apps are springing up to help users manage their Internet of Things (IoT) applications and systems. These mobile apps offer access, connectivity, and communication with technology to improve the smart city and smart home experience. But mobile app development is complex and requires planning and continuous optimization to better serve users.

For mobile apps that control IoT devices, sensors, and systems, user happiness is of the utmost importance. Here are seven challenges that a mobile app development firm may face when designing and developing an app for smart devices.

#1: UI/UX Design

User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design are important facets of any consumer-facing technology. In mobile apps, UI and UX can make or break an app’s success with users. And without users, a mobile app is worthless. Ultimately, proper investment in UI and UX will attract more new users and engage loyal users.

It’s important to establish an app’s UI and UX guidelines early on so that any future changes are made in accordance with previously-established principles for branding, device support, user profiles, and more. With these instructions, new and old designers can work to maintain a consistent user experience. Although it can be tempting to skip UI and UX, don’t make the mistake of putting your users in the corner. Without their feedback, constant use of the app, and word-of-mouth recommendations, your mobile app could be doomed to fail. The time spent in introspection to develop UI and UX specifications will also help inform decisions and ideas further down the development cycle.

#2: Data Flow Management

It’s imperative to create a consistent experience for users by controlling the management of data flow. This requires a stable Internet connection, strong device and connectivity uptime, and a stable database connection. Databases are often used to collect data from multiple types of devices and sensors and aggregate it for use in an application with a front end, like a smartwatch, mobile app, or web app.

Because smart devices differ in their singular data management, it can be difficult to organize data together in a way that makes sense. However, this is an extremely important and foundational part of IoT systems management, so exemplary data flow is necessary.

#3: Network Connection

Speaking of stable and consistent data flow, network connectivity is an important cog in the IoT system. From there, anything is possible: smart analysis, predictive insights, and real-time notification systems are just a few features that can set your mobile app apart from its competition. The network connects all devices and sensors together before they collate their data into a database for later use.

As IoT technology advances, network demand will continue to grow. Networks need speed, a stable connection, and proven performance to adequately aggregate all devices and sensors under one umbrella.

#4: Network and Sensor Compatibility

It may not be enough to spring for a top-of-the-line network connection and infrastructure if devices and sensors aren’t compatible with the network. Because real-time communication and data transmission are necessary to allow users control over the IoT system, ensuring compatibility between the network and devices is essential. The compatibility needs to be stress-tested to ensure many devices and sensors can connect without issue, and the testing needs to occur periodically to make sure nothing has fundamentally changed.

The reason for this issue is that sensor and device manufacturers and vendors don’t work under standardized protocols. Besides the network and device compatibility, this can also lead to major issues with device-to-device compatibility. Thus, it is important to test this early on, rather than being close to the end of the development cycle and having to nearly start over.

#5: Hardware Compatibility

When devices aren’t compatible with each other, it usually becomes obvious pretty quickly. To avoid lengthening the development timeline with this issue, set specific hardware requirements early on in the project. When resolved early, it can prevent issues with the app’s functionality later on.

#6: Performance and Security

Although it’s difficult to optimize for, speed and performance are what a user requires as a prerequisite to user experience. With a slow or lagging mobile app, you’ll create frustration in your users, prompting them to leave negative reviews on your app’s page. Extensive user testing and interviewing is a great way to avoid major bug reports and application crashes while gathering UX and UI feedback.

Similar to speed and performance, security is a foundational requirement for users. If they find out that their data, especially sensitive information like login credentials, is stored insecurely, you can face substantial user backlash and even lawsuits. To ensure your application’s security is robust enough, set security standards at the beginning of the project for all designers and developers to follow. Make this a best practice if you’re planning on developing more mobile apps in the future. At our mobile app development studio in Los Angeles, we always prioritize security and performance in our mobile apps from day one.

#7: Choosing Development Technology

Early on in the development process, the development team has to agree upon the technology stack they’ll use to develop the application. The choice between building a native, hybrid, or cross-platform app can be made by looking at what existing interfaces exist and how the mobile app fits into the IoT ecosystem. Often, one technology will be the clear frontrunner that will allow for a strong user experience, flexible data flow management, and performance and security optimizations.

If needed, reach out to an experienced IoT app development firm for a short consultation. Ultimately, it’s important to squash this issue early.

Taking On Challenges

These seven challenges may seem difficult to overcome, but they are common and every mobile app development team faces them. How you tackle them and continue on to the next issue will determine how well your mobile app will meet your business requirements and users’ preferences. Above all, make sure you’re rising up to the challenges early on, rather than waiting until users start complaining about the issue.

Chatbots are a natural fit for enhancing customer service, especially in an online or mobile setting, and we run into them on websites, in hospitals, on social media, and in mobile apps. There is room for this AI-enabled application in almost every business vertical, but there are pros and cons to be aware of when developing your first chatbot.

Chatbots in Customer Support

Customer support can be grueling. It requires businesses to provide friendly, responsive, and quick help at almost any time of the day. Because of the large investment involved in hiring people and building resources, it is difficult to build an excellent customer support team overnight.

It takes a lot of constant training and ongoing optimization to finetune your support representatives to meet all key performance indicators, like time-to-first-response, time-to-close-ticket, and customer satisfaction or feedback. Instead of skimping on one of your most important customer-facing departments, consider what a chatbot can unlock for you and your customers. Whether your company is a Fortune 500 company, doctor’s office, or a corner grocery store, your business can create and deploy a chatbot quickly and easily without a massive investment.

Benefits of Chatbots in Business

Increase Customer Happiness

Every company is in the business of making their customers happy. It’s what keeps profits steady and brand recognition strong. Thankfully, chatbots fit right into that notion as they are 100% customer-centric.

Chatbots work to answer user questions as fast as possible to reach a resolution on the question at hand. They help customers with the same efficiency and response rate, unlike humans which respond to various queries with different response times. This reliability can give customers more consistent expectations of interacting with your company.

If done right, chatbots can improve customer satisfaction. For example, an customer service representative based in Los Angeles may not be able to speak Japanese to help a customer, but a chatbot can easily switch to a different language on the fly. This unlocks the added benefit of reaching many more customers without having to hire interpreters or native speakers.

Leave an Impression on Customers

Besides serving up a consistent experience that customers can count on, chatbots offer customers the opportunity to “ooh” and “aah” over your company’s use of the most cutting-edge AI and machine learning technology. Many customers enjoy interacting with a chatbot, and engagement rates have been increasing steadily.

In 2019, nearly 40% of retail customers engaged with a chatbot in their search for an answer. When chatbots work well, they can bolster your brand image. They can also help customers see your company as an industry leader.

Available Around-the-Clock

Unlike people, chatbots can be “on” 24/7 without feeling exhausted or needing a break. They can help a customer whenever they need it and from wherever they’re located. Chatbots can stay on indefinitely and use customer feedback to continuously improve their success rates.

Generate Better Leads

Besides helping people with their questions and issues, chatbots can also generate leads. Add in a spam filter, and you can even generate better leads than your contact forms. In on-demand delivery apps, chatbots are often used to take orders and process payments from new customers. This can reduce the amount of time it takes to get a new lead to purchase a product from your company.

More Cost-Effective

Because chatbots don’t require healthcare or sick days, chatbots are much cheaper in the long run compared to a traditional customer support team. They use fewer resources like office space, money, and equipment. Chatbots cost a one-time investment fee, and they need minimal maintenance to continue performing.

Downsides of Chatbots

Talking to a Computer

At the end of the day, most chatbots can’t help customers shake the feeling that they’re talking to an automated AI application. For many customers, their problems can only be solved by a human, and this often includes problems with a purchase, shipping, or credit card charge. For these customers, interacting with a chatbot can feel futile and frustrating.

Although natural language processing technology has come a long way in the past few years, we still haven’t reached a point where chatbots feel human. Fluid language isn’t possible yet. Even the best chatbots can’t make customers feel like they’re talking to a human.

Difficult to Develop

Chatbots can be difficult to design and develop, especially if your company’s use case is complex. When adding machine learning technology into the mix, chatbot development can get downright arduous. As it stands, companies need to spend a lot of time, effort, and server space in creating their chatbot.

Most businesses need chatbots for simpler needs, however, like customer support which can run on pattern-based algorithms. There are already no-code or low-code platforms that offer brands the ability to create a custom chatbot. As technology keeps advancing, it’ll get easier and easier to create and deploy chatbots.

Ongoing Maintenance Schedules

Chatbots require updating and maintenance. Someone should look into the chatbot’s failed customer support tickets to make adjustments where necessary to avoid failing to resolve a ticket about the same topic again. As user questions and issues grow, take some time to add these new topics and their associated solutions into the chatbot’s knowledge bank. The time and effort will be worth it: this work can keep your brand image strong.

Developing Your Chatbot

Creating and deploying a chatbot is getting easier, and more companies are taking advantage of this technology by combining it with AI and machine learning. Don’t get left behind — a well-maintained chatbot with a high success rate in answering questions can strengthen your brand image and leave a great impression on your customers.

Have you interacted with an excellent chatbot? What company’s chatbot was it, and what did you take away from the experience? Let us know in the comments below!

For senior citizens who were able to quarantine alone or live alone throughout the pandemic, technology has taken over many aspects of senior care so that nurses and family can safely ensure their patient and loved one is staying healthy and well. Internet of Things (IoT) applications like fall detection and alert devices, behavioral monitoring sensors, and malnutrition and dehydration trackers have worked tirelessly to support caregivers and elders alike during the pandemic. The hope is that these devices will identify signs of a larger issue so that it can be stopped before becoming serious enough to require hospitalization.

Fall Detection Devices

In elderly populations, falls are a major concern. Falls become more common with age and are the second leading cause of unintentional or accidental deaths worldwide. Thus, it is important to control as much as we can for falls both at home and in senior care facilities.

IoT technology can help caregivers prevent, predict, and detect falls by helping them record falls, pinpoint risk factors in the environment and the individual, and learn preventative and corrective measures. Conventionally, fall-detection technologies have used devices that the elderly person carries or wears. When the patient falls, they have to press the button on the device. This solution is great if your loved one is living across the country in Los Angeles while you’re in Atlanta.

But this method doesn’t account for patients that didn’t fall but don’t feel well enough to get up or for patients who haven’t been feeling normal recently. IoT can detect changes in the patient’s wellbeing by monitoring for discomfort and wellness. IoT sensors can help caregivers track their patients’ progress for days or weeks at a time and compare metrics to see if their patient’s health is declining, which is a risk factor for falling. This can support caregivers to act earlier and provide more care to make up for the senior’s deteriorating wellbeing.

Staying Home Longer

Research shows there may be a link between moving out of the home and into a senior care facility and dying earlier. For many elderly patients, it’s important for them to stay somewhere familiar and accessible to their families. IoT can help families remotely keep an eye on their senior family member by sending daily information about the patient’s health and wellbeing without any action necessary from the senior. When used with tele-assistance services, IoT technology really shines for seniors.

Companies like Vitalbase and SeniorAdom are working on remote assistance technology using IoT systems. Their tools include geolocation pendants, motion detection sensors, and wrist band devices. This hardware is supposed to automatically detect changes in behavior, motion, physical strength, and cognition.

By anticipating risks, sending early notifications to family and caregivers, and acting quickly in an emergency, these companies are making it possible to protect our seniors without expending more money, time, and effort. For example, SeniorAdom uses a self-learning algorithm and a smart box connected wirelessly to sensors in the senior’s home. With these devices and software, the company can detect abnormal situations or critical problems and send a warning to relatives and caregivers. SeniorAdom also uses motion sensors and door sensors to create a general daily schedule of the senior so that abnormalities are more obvious when they occur.

A Look at the Sensor Technology

These IoT-enabled sensors work on an 0G network which is used to send small amounts of data over a larger distance. They don’t pick up any personal or private information while they detect differences from the baseline conditions and movements. 0G devices also utilize low amounts of energy, making the overall cost a lot lower for the family.

For devices that run on other networks like cellular devices, it’s possible to utilize 0G as a backup network to ensure a stable connection for around-the-clock supervision and emergency communication. Vitalbases’s Vibby OAK is an automatic fall detection device worn on the senior’s neck or wrist. It connects to a cellular device (like a smartphone) but uses a 0G network when the cellular connection is unstable or unreachable. At healthcare and senior living facilities, devices operating on the 0G network can communicate with existing nursing call systems to keep medical staff updated in the event of an emergency.

More Autonomous Living

Many seniors want to continue an independent, autonomous, and healthy lifestyle. By outfitting their home and body with several devices and sensors in an IoT system, it’s possible for relatives and caregivers to remain vigilant, proactive, and connected without having to ask their seniors to leave home for good.

And although this brings about more efficiency and productivity at the end of the day, we must still prioritize cybersecurity in IoT applications used by the media and entertainment industries. Without adequate and robust security protocols, there are substantial consequences. For example, major releases could lose significant amounts of revenue by hackers who publish the film ahead of its premiere.

IoT in Entertainment

IoT is being used in media and entertainment applications in a variety of interesting ways from Hollywood in Los Angeles to Bollywood in Bombay. First, the industry is using IoT to increase its customer base and profitability. By getting an idea of their customers, preferences, and household demographics, companies are building more accurate profiles of where their revenue comes from using data taken from social media, wearables, mobile devices, surveys, and more. This allows companies to develop or acquire more content that meshes well with their main audience, which in turn increases profit.

Having user profiles of customers yields incredible insights through advertising efforts. Ads can be targeted more granularly and with more focused copy and visuals. As the effectiveness of an ad campaign grows, the return on investment exponentially increases for the company by reaching other customers that have similar traits and by convincing existing customers to buy.

On the other hand, companies can include better-targeted advertisements in their media according to what their customers prefer in content and ad delivery. They can also schedule the media to run at a time when their customers are already watching something else they enjoy. Lastly, companies can run marketing campaigns and promotional offers at highly effective times as a result of knowing their customer base.

For theme parks and cruises, sensors and electronic bracelets create a new technological, hands-free experience for customers. These bracelets allow theme parks and cruises to track their customers’ movements for analysis and optimization. IoT also helps companies utilize preventative maintenance of media equipment based on sensor data.

While IoT is bringing about better customer experiences for the media and entertainment industry, it’s also opening up companies to cybersecurity incidents and hacking attempts. The industry is already being attacked frequently, especially around big releases, but we can fortify our efforts to prevent malicious attackers from successfully gaining access to sensitive and private data.

The Current State of Security

It’s crucial for media and entertainment companies to figure out what their customers want, and the data generated and collected in the search for answers to these problems are highly sought-after. Data usage is prominent in the industry, and success depends upon relationships between partners, the company and the customer, and the customers and the content. Thus, it’s imperative that a company’s reputation is known to be secure, trustworthy, and friendly.

When a company in the industry is developing and distributing a creative product, it uses outside vendors often to achieve various goals. For this purpose, IoT is a great tool. But because this creates more complexity in workflows and processes, it can become complicated to secure assets and information.

According to research by Hiscox, more than half of surveyed media and entertainment companies had three or more cyber attacks over a 12-month period. This is no small number, especially because these companies are managing extremely sensitive data like financial, consumer, and personal information. What’s worse is that outside vendors hired in the past are also being targeted, which could compromise the entire supply chain.

Strengthening Security

To reinforce a media and entertainment company’s security procedures and protocols, there are three key areas to concentrate on. First, the prevention of attacks and successful hacks is paramount. This can be accomplished by accurately assessing any and all risks and vulnerabilities to the company and its data. Cybersecurity should be prioritized from the start of any project that involves IoT technology and devices or sensors. Staff must be trained to adequately recognize when a malicious attack is occurring.

Second, detection is an important area to focus on. Track all attempted hacks and attacks and analyze the time of day, day of the week, country of origin, and other dimensions to find a pattern that you can act upon. Develop a coordinated response plan to enact if an attack is discovered. And set up a secure portal that employees can use to report any issues or intrusions.

Lastly, mitigate, mitigate, mitigate. Implementing IoT technology is no small or inexpensive feat. After you’ve worked hard to develop a plan, train employees, and analyze past attack attempts, don’t let your efforts fall to the wayside. Mitigation involves prevention, detection, containment, and assessment of cyberattacks. It also includes a continuous review of security upgrades and updates to devices and software.

Many industries, including the media and entertainment industry, overestimate security and underestimate their risk. In almost all cases, your company could always be doing more to protect your assets and information.

IoT Innovation in Entertainment Is Just Starting

Don’t delay in implementing IoT technology if it’s the right tool to take your company and profits to the next level. Cybersecurity is a major concern, but it mustn’t scare you from utilizing IoT in your business operations — the benefits far outweigh the negatives. To be safe, keep your assets well-guarded with a strong security plan and solution from the get-go.

How have you experienced IoT in entertainment? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

By 2030, the United States is expected to have a tech talent shortage. This year alone, 4.3 million jobs in America’s technology sector are projected to go unfilled — that equates to lost revenue of $162 billion. Luckily, Ted Lieu, California’s 33rd Congressional District Representative, has a solution for the state: Inspire our youth to innovate with the Congressional App Challenge.

Held last Thursday, the 2020 Congressional App Challenge featured sixteen students from ten high schools across Los Angeles County. Altogether, they submitted eleven amazing mobile app concepts. And Congressman Lieu invited Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media’s Co-Founder and CEO, to participate as a judge in the competition!

About the Congressional App Challenge

The United States House of Representatives established the Congressional App Challenge in 2014 to “connect today’s Congress with tomorrow’s coders.” The event encourages students from all corners of the country to get more hands-on with their STEM education by creating and submitting mobile app concepts. The winner receives national recognition and also has their work featured in Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Building!

For Congressman Ted Lieu, the event is a special occasion that connects him back to his own education: “As one of just four computer science majors in Congress, I believe it is essential to encourage and nurture a generation of technology-savvy students who will continue to innovate our economy and advance our technological edge. The App Challenge provides young students throughout my district an opportunity to pursue their creative and technical talents. I encourage all eligible students to participate.”

Since its first year, the Congressional App Challenge has grown exponentially. In 2019, 10,211 students submitted mobile apps. To put this number in perspective, that’s a 373% increase from 2016! This event also now outpaces Silicon valley in terms of diversity: Compared to America’s tech innovation hub, participants are five times more likely to identify as latinx, four times more likely to identify as black, and two times more likely to identify as female.

On the other side of the equation, the Congressional App Challenge is also increasing STEM’s visibility in politics. Since 2016, 54% more Congress members have become involved in the competition and the mentions of STEM and computer science in congress have grown by over 2000%.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s reception was completely remote. Dr. William Goodin, Industry Relations Coordinator at UCLA’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and Mr. Howard Stahl, Santa Monica College’s Department Chair for Computer Science & Information Systems, judged this year’s submissions alongside Marc.

And the Winners Are…

Dylan and Winston Iskandar of Mira Costa High School and Chadwick School were selected as this year’s winners! Inspired by the ‘new normal’ we all find ourselves in during the COVID-19 pandemic, the duo developed a mobile app called “GroceryBuddies” that connects volunteers with at-risk individuals so they can help them run errands and get groceries. You can learn more about it in the video below:

Jake and Kate North of Stanford Online High School came in second place with their mobile app concept, “Ideos.” “MyChemistry,” a pocket-reference tool for chemistry information that was developed by Rachel Fox of Agoura High School, came in third place:

And “MaskCheck,” an app created by Jayden Bulexa of Beverly Hills High School that helps to educate people about and enforce mask-wearing, received an honorable mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8cHHSW9wPY&feature=youtu.be

Each of these entries was incredibly innovative. “As a recovering Computer Science major, I am inspired by all these students who have committed themselves to creating these innovative apps,” Congressman Lieu said.

Marc was also astounded by the level of creativity and quality that these young mobile app developers brought to the table: “It’s an exciting honor to witness the next generation of innovators harness the potential of STEM to improve our lives. I thank Congressman Lieu for the opportunity to help inspire, educate, and foster a passion for technology in our youth.”

It’s absolutely amazing that there’s so much young tech talent in the Los Angeles County area alone! We can’t wait to see what 2021’s participants have to offer.

At-home patient care has made great strides in the past decade, with the advancement of technology in IV infusion pumps, CPAP machines, and asthma inhalers. Unfortunately, because patients often misuse or underuse their at-home medical devices, providers often see poorer outcomes for their patients when compared to those who regularly use their home-based medical devices.

Tracking these outcomes and patient home situations are difficult for a variety of reasons: lack of knowledge of how devices are being used, how often and how exactly they’re used for off-label purposes, how much they malfunction, how often and how they are misused, and how effective they are when used properly and as intended. But by adding the Internet of Things (IoT) into the mix, medical applications can track usage, monitor devices, and analyze the output to provide clinicians, insurers, researchers, regulators, and device manufacturers realistic data. This data can be used to measure outcomes and optimize the next generation of medical devices.

Staying Healthy at Home

Before the pandemic, non-clinical settings like the workplace or home were growing in popularity for medical devices developed and meant for use in a medical setting. But with the current state of things, at-home medical devices are more important than ever to ensure patients stay safe and at home. At-home care is more convenient, easier on the wallet, and eases anxiety for the patient. It also helps patients avoid exposure to other illnesses at the doctor’s office or at the hospital.

Experts say IoT should be incorporated into any medical device that could be used in a non-clinical setting. IoT technology generates real-time data all day and night, and it can notify a provider if the patient is misusing or underusing their medical machine. It also can detect malfunctions, inefficiencies, and maintenance problems before the machine breaks down and leaves the patient without a device.

Infusion Pumps for IV

There are public IV bars where you can go for an IV boost if you’re feeling down or exhausted from physical exertion. These pumps are being sent home more often with patients for antibiotic delivery, hydration, parenteral (meaning outside of the mouth and digestive tract) nutrition, and post-operative pain management. When you go to a public IV bar, you’ll be injected by a registered or certified nurse.

Infusion pumps are complex to use, and each model from every manufacturer has different controls and prompts to learn. As a result, patients can accidentally mess up the dosage or insert the wrong IV bag or medication if they’re not paying attention and taking multiple medications. With IoT, we can keep track of dosage, inventory, and monitor the time of day usage, temperature, heart rate, and the patient’s qualitative condition to help patients avoid these errors. IoT applications can also alert the patient’s medical provider if there are any serious predicted problems as well as speak directly to the patient to help them learn how to better interact with their infusion pump.

CPAP Machines

CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines are becoming increasingly popular for home treatment. These machines help patients with obstructive sleep apnea, which increases blood pressure, causes atrial fibrillation, and escalates the effects of heart disease. For patients who first get a CPAP machine at their home, there is initial discomfort as well as a significant learning curve. Additionally, patients don’t see immediate benefits to using the machine because it takes time for the effects to become apparent.

As a result, patients find it difficult to adhere to their PAP therapy, and less than 50% of patients use their CPAP machine for over four hours a night. This machine delivers the best therapy for sleep apnea, but it’s so uncomfortable to use that patients would rather take the risk of causing other health issues than keep it on all night. Insurance companies have become circumspect about buying expensive CPAP machines for patients and have started renting machines with monitoring installed to patients instead. If the patient wants to keep the machine long-term, they can eventually buy the machine from the insurance company.

With IoT technology, physicians can monitor their patients and analyze data about underuse of the machine. This can help the provider start a frank conversation with the patient geared towards improving the patient’s experience with the CPAP machine. Because insurance companies often try to get out of paying for replacement supplies like tubing, filters, and masks for patients, IoT technology can help the patient make a stronger case for their consistent usage of the machine. Unfortunately, many patients find the monitoring and rent-to-buy business model intrusive and inappropriate.

Inhalers for Asthma

For patients with asthma and breathing problems living in wildfire-prone areas like Los Angeles or polluted areas like New Delhi, living life “normally” can be extremely difficult for half of the year. Because these patients often cannot go outside without triggering an attack or episode, it’s imperative that the patient maintains their wellness from the comfort of their own home. But metered-dose inhalers (MDI) are frequently misused by patients, leading to uncontrolled asthma that comes with life-threatening risk. When this irreversible event occurs, the patient’s provider will often increase their MDI dosage or prescribe a more powerful medication.

When a patient is experiencing a breathing episode, they face difficulty in correctly administering their MDI because it requires hand-lung coordination, proper inhalation, and physical dexterity. But if you’ve ever used an inhaler, you know that there is no feedback to show that you administered the inhaler correctly or effectively. You have to wait a minute or so to see if breathing got easier for you. As a result, it’s easy to forget a step or become overwhelmed by the fear that you’re unable to breathe correctly.

The most common trend over time for the patient is to underuse the MDI, which requires excess use of rescue medication and increases the risk of a serious or life-threatening episode. Providers cannot go off of the patient’s recall memory about how well they used their MDI; it’s been shown that patients tend to misremember how well they administered their MDI medication. But new MDIs provide some hope: they can measure and monitor how much of the medication is reaching the patient’s lungs, how the device is being used, and under what circumstances the patient needed their MDI. With this data available, the patient’s provider can tailor their training, device selection, and messaging to the specific patient’s needs. The provider can even make changes to what device they prescribe for future patients.

Keeping up with Therapy at Home

Because the very nature of IoT is to generate data in real-time without any sort of break from monitoring machines, the data should help patients and providers become more communicative, more empathetic, and more understanding. No patient wants to end up in the emergency room for underusing their medication, and IoT can help patients avoid the risk of becoming hospitalized by creating a more transparent patient experience and by alerting providers sooner.

Robotic medicine artificial intelligence concept. Robot doctor with stethoscope, syringe blood test. Blue background. empty space for text.

There are many ways humanity is mobilizing to fight against the COVID-19 crisis. While most of us can’t help out at the hospital as a nurse or doctor, we can sew masks, use our 3D printers to make supplementary PPE, and create web and mobile resources to help others cope.

Luckily, we’re also receiving a helping hand from technology. It turns out that robots are doing their fair share of aid: more than two dozen types of robots have been working to support public health and safety by working inside and outside of hospitals, automating testing, and helping humans slowly return to normal life again.

The Newest Essential Workers

If you’ve been to a hospital lately, you might have seen a cylindrical robot wheeling around the ICU area. This automaton allows healthcare workers to take the patient’s temperature, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure remotely. It also helps the patient (especially those on ventilators) maintain their breathing in a sterile and sanitized room.

But this isn’t the only robot concerned with cleanliness. Many medical facilities are also employing large robots equipped with ultraviolet light; they roam the hallways, rotating vertically to disinfect everything they pass by.

Robots are also helping to attend to those who are quarantined. Cart-like automatons are being used to deliver food to people confined to hotel rooms during this crisis. And quadcopter drones are scurrying back and forth, bringing test samples to labs — and also taking photos of anyone violating shelter-in-place restrictions.

These incredibly diverse robots are providing much-needed help. In a global disaster such as this one, we would be remiss to not rely on robots to relieve as many frontline workers as possible. This includes taking care of sanitization, hourly vital measurements, resource delivery, and even a few duties for local police departments.

A Global Effort

Roboticists at the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue and Texas A&M University researched over 120 ways that robots are helping 21 countries during this pandemic. They concluded that aerial and ground robots are indispensable in managing the COVID-19 crisis.

Medic robots holds a tubes with a stick for scraping PCR and blood test. Abstract diagnostic room, medical equipment: table, test tubes blood samples on blue background. copy space

Besides disinfecting hospital rooms and hallways, robots are also delivering food and prescriptions to patients. Some are even handling the extra paperwork and data entry that comes along with a surge in patients.

Outside of many hospitals, sanitizing robots are hard at work spraying disinfectant in public areas. Besides identifying people violating their local stay-at-home orders, drones are being used to create thermal images to find people with fevers and remind people to stay more than six feet apart. One country is even using a robot to roll through crowds, with audio advising people about the virus and social distancing.

For those who must keep working but cannot work from home from a computer all day, robots are helping them keep up business as usual. At a new hospital in China, construction workers worked through the night as drones carried the lighting around the hospital.

Realtors are using robots to teleconference with video during property tours without leaving their homes. Japanese students “attended” graduation with robots walking the stage. And in Cyprus, Greece, a man used his drone to walk his dog so he wouldn’t have to violate the shelter-in-place restrictions.

A Helping Hand, Not a Replacement

Although some of the robots in use are autonomous, that is, developed with AI, there is zero indication that they are taking over human jobs. Instead of displacing workers, robots are aiding them in a myriad of ways.

Robots work faster than most humans, saving time and effort that can be used more productively elsewhere. Aside from efficiency, the usage of robots also helps save vital personal protective equipment (PPE).

All around the world, robots are undertaking tasks that humans could not do safely during this time. This also prevents workers from being exposed to the virus, which is going to save countless lives.

Off-the-Shelf Instead of Cutting-Edge

It’s important to note that, while many startups and research labs are innovating during this time and developing medical robots, these new robots are highly unlikely to make any sort of impact now. Most medical facilities are choosing to rely on tried-and-tested automatons rather than new prototypes.

Most often, robots used in an emergency, especially those making a major difference, were already in common use before the disaster occurred. One reason is that healthcare workers (and other frontline workers) are way too inundated with smaller details during a disaster to spend any time learning or training on a new machine.

Robots already in use can be repurposed in the event of a disaster: agriculture drones, ones that spray pesticides over many acres of farmland, are being used in India and China to spray disinfectant over large urban areas.

Newer iterations of robots will certainly be useful in future pandemics. Which leads us to our next thought: We mustn’t pause innovation when humanity recovers from this pandemic.

Robots Can Help Us With Future Crises

From Los Angeles to Beijing, COVID-19 has brought the world in a standstill. It’s inspiring to see how robots are being used to help humans handle this pandemic better. We hope that the benefits these automatons have brought spur new innovation in this field. It’s clear that robots hold vast potential to help out in crises like this pandemic.

What developments would you like to see in the field of robotics? Did you hear about any other examples of robots helping out during the COVID-19 crisis? As always, feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

If these numbers astound you, consider that the global Internet of Things (IoT) industry is forecasted by experts to connect over 20 billion devices and sensors by the end of this year; that amounts to 1 to 2 for every person in the world.

Many of these devices will come in the form of wearables. It’s imperative that we think deeply about how we utilize this technology — it could have a monumental impact on our health and environment.

Proliferation of Mobile

As smartphones become more affordable and accessible through the improvement of mobile networks and infrastructure, we’ve also seen rapid growth in wearable technology.

Wearables are devices that are worn on the body, as clothes or as accessories. The smartwatch has been the most successful wearable thus far, but many innovative companies have released smart jewelry, glasses, handbags, clothes, and other apparel.

Experts forecast that wearables will become more popular and ubiquitous in the future, eventually permeating every facet of human life. But this prediction could come with consequences.

Researchers like Andreas Köhler, Ph.D. pointed out almost a decade ago (in 2013) that electronics are made of scarce materials that can cause a shortage of supplies in the future; these electronics are very difficult to recycle and reuse when they die, and the global economy and society have become reliant on these products.

Many scientists, like Köhler, believe that industrial and IoT developers, engineers, and designers need to heed the scarcity of these materials and make alternative choices when possible. Developing electronics with a lifecycle that ends with recycling is also a priority to create a more sustainable market for wearables to flourish in. These changes require a change in supply chain logistics as well as our mindsets.

Overcoming Sustainability Challenges

Combining textiles with electronics creates a massive problem for the environment. Since mobile phones and wearables are short-lived electronic goods (especially compared to laptops/desktops, TVs, and even tablets), their product cycles are shorter. We often get bombarded to buy the newest phone model once every year or once every year and a half.

Creating the ambiance of “fast fashion” for consumers in regards to wearables can lead to wearables getting dumped into the landfill. They would become a mass-consumed and mass-disposal electronic product.

What’s worse is that wearables (and essentially all electronics) further deteriorate our environment, society, and human health by increasing the difficulty of recycling electronic waste, scarce resource consumption, and power consumption.

Without a proper lifecycle that ends with recycling scarce materials, we’re further damaging the environment and human lives in generating demand for difficult-to-obtain materials. Without recycling, just as we’ve seen with plastic waste, our wearables would ultimately end up in our water, air, and soil, increasing the number, frequency, and severity of health problems for humans.

Wearables also perpetuate the idea of an always-online culture, which harms human culture, interaction, and mental health.

Adding to everything above, the aspect of data security and privacy is always lurking in the background for emerging technologies. A data leak or loss of data security has real-life implications for users who are impacted.

Opportunities to Improve Sustainability

Experts straddle the line on wearables; many believe that wearables will disrupt how consumers currently shop for products.

If done right, wearables would have a longer lifespan, which would help consumers reframe their view of mobile electronic products. In fact, if manufacturers were able to source more durable material and improve the user’s awareness and knowledge of cleaning and maintaining their wearable device, wearables could last each consumer much longer.

To truly improve the consumption rate of electronics, software compatibility and multi-platform support must be available at any given time. The product and the product’s company should constantly adapt to users’ changing wants and needs.

Research shows that when a product meets the user’s needs and lifestyle and has a meaning for the user, an emotional attachment is created. With an emotional attachment, products have a much longer lifetime.

Medical developers working on health- and fitness-related wearables should build as much customization into the product as possible to allow for the user to become more in tune with it. At our Los Angeles-based mobile app development studio, we work with our clients to brainstorm as many features and data analysis as we can for the user to benefit from.

As a result, society experiences fewer health problems, an improved process for aging, and decreased healthcare costs. These changes directly improve quality of life and open the door for telehealth and preventative medicine.

The User’s Role

Much of the onus on our mass-consumer culture (especially in regards to electronics) rests on us as the consumers. If we didn’t validate the short electronic lifecycle by buying the latest model when it comes out, we could send the right message to the company.

All told, the consumer’s behavior will determine how sustainable wearable products can be. Even if every single wearable was designed with the least scarce resources, if consumers don’t adapt their behavior to buy electronics less often, we won’t see any improvement for the environment and human health.

At this point in time, wearables could be on the right track if we (as users and consumers) take care of them, use them longer, adopt them more slowly, and dispose of them responsibly.

The IoT market is forecasted to reach $922.62 billion by 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing emerging technologies. Due to this rapid growth, many experts worry that we’re overlooking strong cybersecurity protocols and standards by only paying attention to the myriad benefits and potential of IIoT.

The Far-Reaching Consequences of Poor Security

For many IoT app developers, security is usually an afterthought. Even worse, sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle of development, only to be remembered at the end of the project, when the time and budget has run dry.

There are no real, published, official security standards that developers and industries must operate by. Security frameworks simply aren’t accommodating emerging technology fast enough. And no one has settled on an agreement for a minimum protocol of best practices for cybersecurity in their IoT applications.

This means device manufacturers have to layer some sort of security into their physical products, and this, of course, will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some may even circumvent the hassle by not providing any sort of security or encryption. When an organization utilizes devices with no security software, it’s extremely difficult to add encryption and security afterward. What’s worse is that, once devices leave the manufacturing plant, they aren’t updated with the newest security patches, leaving them extremely vulnerable to malicious attacks.

For many organizations utilizing IoT, this isn’t a big deal until a data breach occurs, a hack prevents operations from running smoothly, or until customers and the bottom line are directly affected. For IIoT, however, these consequences could result in power outages for entire regions, causing chaos and disrupting many public necessities, like hospital communications systems.

When implemented poorly, both IoT and IIoT can have disastrous and unnecessary effects.

The Compounding Effect

Organizations utilizing poorly-secured devices start creating a compounded problem for themselves and their end-users. Devices layered on top of sensors, with physical products and software on top of everything else, all become inundated with subpar security due to a lack of strong security on every level of the IoT or IIoT system.

When a system grows in complexity (i.e. multiple sensor types, multiple product types, multiple warehouses, multiple software systems to accommodate everything), it makes even an in-house IT security team’s job difficult. IIoT systems, as they are, are already dynamic, diverse, and independent, and keeping inventory of every interaction and process is extremely cumbersome, especially as the system keeps evolving.

Monitoring and managing these components without transparency, control, and access over every single element at any given time becomes next to impossible. Often, an organization will layer an entire IIoT system over its outdated infrastructure and equipment, which further muddles the task for an IT department.

Addressing the Foundational Problems

Another looming issue affecting every organization that utilized any form of IoT is the lack of IoT security knowledge and awareness. Due to no published standards or laws to abide by, there isn’t much of a talent pool to hire from.

Besides that, most organizations don’t even really know what they’re looking for when they do understand that they need to work to mitigate the exposure and risk of a hacking attempt. They don’t know what to look for when building their IIoT security infrastructure and strategy, and they certainly don’t know how to maintain it when it’s built.

Experts recommend using a managed security service provider (MSSP) to work through the security foundation and long-term strategy. An MSSP will have the expertise, experience, and continuous knowledge to manage a complex IIoT system. Since IIoT devices have different deployment conditions, networking needs, and application requirements than a regular IoT system, a dedicated team will spend budget in the most efficient way.

Most MSSPs have also developed best practices from experience and networking internationally with other MSSPs, giving you the best bang for your buck in both preventative maintenance and on-demand needs.

But it’s not enough to simply hire an MSSP. The organization must carefully vet the experts that the MSSP brings on board, taking into account their services, expertise, resources, and guarantees. An MSSP that requires continuing education for their employees, offers cutting-edge security knowledge, includes data correlation and dashboards to track security threats in real-time, and also returns a customized solution for your enterprise is the best partner to pair up with.

IoT Security Is a Team Effort

Of course, the organization’s leadership must understand the importance of keeping security procedures and policies up-to-date, using assessments and audits regularly to revisit what needs improvement and optimization. Whether or not it’s a new implementation of an IIoT system, cybersecurity should be at the core and foundation of all IIoT systems.

It’s important that your IoT systems developer also takes security seriously. An MSSP might be seen as a band-aid or be a part of an organization’s post-implementation plan, but as we’ve discussed, security standards start at the root of the IoT system. At our studio’s Los Angeles headquarters, our IoT developers are trained to prioritize cybersecurity as a top need for all implementations. Your organization should settle for nothing less.