The application of IoT for the inspection, recognition, detection and processing of visual data brings unprecedented capabilities and practical value to organisations. Such technologies offer a new type of business processes across manufacturing, supply chains, oil and gas and other industries aiming at fulfilling security, material handling and a variety of other purposes. The October IoT webinar, co-hosted by Pitch-In Project and sponsored by Newcastle University and www.goto50.ai an ADLINK Technology AI Community, was organised to keep up with the latest IoT applications making a meaningful use of visual data. The webinar had presentations from Nick Fragale, the founder and CEO of Rover Robotics (www.roverrobotics.com), and Justin Godfrey-Cass, Head of Transport Solutions in Wireless Logic (www.wirelesslogic.com). The event provided insight into new products, their use cases and infrastructural solutions in the sector.

Nick Fragale ROVER ROBOTICS presented a Rover Zero mobile robot that came onto the market in March 2020. This is the second version of the robotics device that the company has launched since its foundation in 2018. Compared to other robots, the product of Rover Robotics has three distinctive features. First, the system is very modular, which enables developers easily to swap the elements to keep the system up-to-date. The use of the URTA protocol makes the robots compatible with almost every processor and microcontroller. The robots are based on Intel stacks, such as Intel CPU, Intel RealSense, giving the robots the ability to understand the world in 3D, and Intel Movidius, enabling deep neural network inference. The company also utilises Nvidia Jetson Line in order to make it possible to do inference on a single GPU, which is convenient for assemblies consisting of multiple cameras. Secondly, Rover Zero is reasonably priced. The product is stripped of expensive material, which makes it affordable without affecting its functionality and reliability. It fits the market due to the combination of high-quality components and well thought out design with a relatively low price (ranging between $500 and $5000). Thirdly, Rover Robotics use open-source software, which eliminates the possibility of vendor lock-in – i.e. strong dependence on the vendor’s products and services, thus increasing switching costs. The products of Rover Robotics have found applications in oil and gas, healthcare, food delivery, steel manufacturing, warehousing and other sectors. They can be used for industrial site inspection, tracking assets to perform predictive maintenance, and detecting anomalies in temperature and other environmental conditions. In the pandemic circumstances, rover robots can be used in the public environment and daily life for disinfecting and enabling telepresence as an alternative to travelling. However, despite the range of potential use cases in the public domain, the utilisation of robots may raise ethical questions that the existing regulatory base is not yet ready to resolve. Beyond the warehouse market, the full-capacity usage of mobile robots could be limited due to current regulations.

Justin Godfrey-Cass WIRELESS LOGIC talked through how the Wireless Logic team help deliver connectivity solutions for a range of IoT use case. Founded in 1999, today the company has a network of 5 subsidiaries in the EU and 55 mobile operators that are used to deliver IoT applications. The company has over 10,000 customers, who value the tailored solutions that Wireless Logic has developed to ensure the security and reliability of communication. The company serves multiple sectors, including health, energy, the consumer market, smart city and others. Against the backdrop of increasing demand for wireless connectivity in the transport and logistics sectors, Wireless Logic offers cellular connectivity to improve ANPR systems. ANPR is a live streaming or imaging of vehicle registration number plates, which is used for time-critical detection, deterrence and disruption of crimes, traffic enforcement, car park management and emission management. The company have helped police forces and public sector organisations with the transition towards cellular connectivity through 2G/3G/4G multi-network SIMs. Technically, cameras and devices are connected to network routers, while Wireless Logic supplies the connectivity to the router to communicate data to customers’ PC. The connectivity through cellular networks brings advantages in terms of the security of data, rapid deployment, reduced costs and resilience. Resilience is achieved by using a network-agnostic approach, private APN and a choice of networks best-suited for particular locations. To ensure quality, customers are offered sector-leading routers and technical support throughout the service. To reduce costs, the company uses a flexible cost-efficient approach in the development of infrastructure and cellular solutions. The security of data is guaranteed by meeting customer-specific technical requirements, the use of private IPs and VPN solutions among other measures to correspond to industry security standards.