Author: pamruta

pamruta https://pamruta.wordpress.com Data Science, Text Mining, Machine Learning, Predictive Analysis
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@ Comic-Con Bangalore

 

What a fantastic way to spend the Sunday catching up with old friends, collecting lots of goodies and posters @ Comic-Con, Bangalore!

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Programmable Jewellery

Objective: Create Fashionably Smart Jewellery using Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology.

What you need:

[1] NXP NTag Stickers (preferable NTAG-21x series). I purchased mine on Amazon.com for under Rs 500 (pack of 6). Waterproof tags are also available.

[2] NFC compatible smart phone.

[3] Jewellery items you would like to smarten up (e.g. brooch, pendant, cufflinks, bracelet, watch etc) with a surface of at least 3cm in diameter to stick the NTag sticker.

Step 1: Stick the NFC sticker on the backside of your jewellery.

Step 2: Enable the NFC option in your mobile phone’s settings to read / write the tag.

Step 3: Program the NFC Tag using the NFC TagWriter App by NXP.

With this mobile app, you can program your tag to perform number of actions such as to share your business card / contact details, open your company’s or product’s webpage, send an email message or SMS, place a phone call, navigate users to a specific location / address on the map etc.

Below are some of the popular use-cases:

  1. Smart Home Automation: NFC tags are attached near the entrance door at home to automatically connect your phone to your home’s wifi network as you enter the house, or disable wifi when you leave. Your guests can also connect to your home network without having to share your password.
  2. Retail: NFC tags are attached on products to take customers directly to the product’s page where they can learn more about its features and specifications.
  3. Business Cards: In business meetings and conferences, NFC tags are added on business cards to share / add your contact information (such as your name, affiliation, job title, phone number and email) directly to the recipient’s address book.
  4. Print Ads: Many shops and restaurants use NFC tags on their print advertisements e.g. restaurant’s take-out menu to navigate customers to their store location.
  5. Technical Support: Attach a NFC tag on your laptop, fridge or TV to save and call the customer support number for any technical issues or service requests.
  6. Health-Care: Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or Dementia can wear the NFC tags that carries their personal information, such as home address or phone number of a close relative.
  7. Smart Cars: NFC tags can be attached on car’s dashboard to enable your phone’s bluetooth setting and pair it with your car’s. If you are stuck in traffic, with a single tap, you can also send a quick text message or make a phone call to let your boss / spouse know that you are running late.

I’ve programmed mine so that it takes users to my LinkedIn profile or website.

Step 4: Test your newly programmed jewellery by simply tapping it on the back of any NFC enabled phone to make sure it’s working as expected. Done!

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Shopping for your first Robot

While smart home assistants like Alexa offer convenient hands-free help via voice interface, home robots go one step further by adding computer vision (ability to see) through cameras, and mobility (to walk around and make gestures).. These robotic assistants can do lot of things like taking pictures, working as your home surveillance camera, reading story books to children, in addition to playing music, booking taxi, keeping reminders, calendars, to-do lists, checking online recipes, flight status and more..

Below are some of the home robots you can purchase today!

Kuri: Adorable home robot launched by Bosch start-up Mayfield Robotics in CES 2017. This robot is primarily meant to entertain children and looks like a snow-man. Features include touch sensors, HD cameras for taking photos and videos, gestures through head nodding movements, speakers to play music, and mapping sensors for navigation. The price is at $899. Unlike the other robots out there, Kuri, however, lacks a display to play videos etc.

kuri-child_res_800x450

Jibo: Jibo was launched through a crowdfunding initiative by Dr Cynthia Breazeal, an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab, and also costs at $899. Jibo offers a touch-screen display which can be used to interact with Jibo, in addition to voice-commands. Jibo can read the news, set alarm clock, play music, take pictures, make Skype video calls, order food delivery and more..

Jibo looks a lot similar to and therefore is often confused with LG’s Hub robot which connects to home appliances through Home IoT. LG, however, hasn’t officially announced any release date or price for their Hub robots.

Zenbo: from ASUS priced at $599. Features include voice-control for smart home devices (lighting, door locks, TV, aircon), request help in emergencies, taking pictures and reading stories to children. The developer program offers tools and SDKs to program new apps and features in Zenbo.

Pepper and NAO from Softbank Robotics – Unlike the other robots above which look like WALL-E or snow-man, these robots are somewhat humanoid in their shape and form. Their main usage has been to build robotic concierges to greet and assist customers in hotels, airports, shops and banks. The chat-bot API allows integration for existing bot applications built in MS Bot framework or DialogFlow. The Choregraphe suite offers a simple drag-n-drop UI to program dialogs and animations in the robot and to test simulations. The hefty price tag (somewhere between US $15K for NAO to $40K for Pepper), however, makes these robots suitable only for large corporates, rather than for domestic use.