The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to radically change the way we interact with our surroundings. The IoT digitizes the physical world by sensors which are embedded in everyday physical objects that are linked through wired and wireless networks. These sensors can send and receive data which allows us to monitor and manage objects in the physical world, electronically. The application of the IoT provides great opportunities for a wide variety of industries, from home automation to production optimization.
Throughout the years we have seen quite an interesting array of IoT applications like LG’s smart fridge and Samsungs Smart Air Dresser. However, in August 2018, IBM has filed a patent for an IoT application which might sound silly to many people, namely a ”coffee delivery drone”. According to BBC, IBM has stated that the drone can identify the “cognitive state” of office workers and lower cups of coffee on an “unspooling string”. The drone would use sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to track things such as blood pressure, pupil dilation, and facial expressions to determine if a worker is getting tired and then hover over to provide a cup of coffee to the employee. Also, as stated in the patent, motion sensors could let thirsty workers use hand gestures to call for a pick-me-up. Additionally, the drone could pour the coffee directly into a cup on the worker’s desk, or just drop a sealed bag of hot liquid onto the desk. It could even include a heater to make sure the coffee was delivered hot. In fact, the drone system’s AI could create and store profiles of all the workers in the office, both as individuals and groups, making it easy to deliver everyone’s “regular” order without having to engage in an ongoing dialog according to Fredric Paul from Network World.
IBM has not revealed whether they would actually produce it but it requires a great amount of resources to file a 16-page patent like this. Critics like Fredric Paul have slammed this invention and questioned IBM’s focus and whether an invention like this is going to fulfill IoT’s enormous promise which the vendors and analysts all predict? My opinion on this IoT application is more nuanced, I think that silly sounding IoT innovations like this can spark more tech giants to tap into the value of IoT and come up with more valuable IoT applications. After all, many innovations sounded silly at first right?
