The revolution of our daily lives thanks to the Internet of Things is yet to come and, therefore, only hypotheses can be made about how this technology will affect our lives, even more so if we take into account that few live in smart home or use wearable objects (objects equipped with this technology that can be worn). On the other hand, there are other innovations that are gradually being incorporated, such as automated tellers, smart surveillance cameras and factories with autonomous operation. However, these advances remain in the background, since they do not affect our routine in such a visible way. The absolute integration of the IoT would mean being continuously surrounded by computer systems that collect and exchange data on the Internet. If these objects are used within the home, they completely slip into the private sphere.
Living in a smart home brings with it many advantages: thanks to the data collected on the different inhabitants and their activities, it is possible to react in advance and facilitate certain daily activities. Household appliances are self-regulating and thus guarantee greater safety: kitchen fires that turn off automatically or house doors that lock themselves.
Many of the devices connected to the Internet respond to a pattern of behavior : a smart wristwatch responsible for stimulating a healthy lifestyle alerts the user every time it detects an increase in sedentary lifestyle. However, human needs are only predictable to a certain extent, not forgetting a key question that often accompanies the use of this technology: what if technology increasingly controlled our lifestyle? Let's imagine that insurers begin to emerge that charge one or another rate taking into account the information collected on the physical activity performed by a client. Would it be ethical? Not only experts in this field try to find an answer, but also IT professionals discuss the disadvantages that the application of the IoT can bring.
One thing is certainly clear: the devices for home use already available are quite practical . An example of this is the smart thermostat from Nest, a company acquired by Google, capable of detecting the usual heating temperature in a place, to later regulate it autonomously. A motion detector records whether the inhabitants are at home and turns off the heating in their absence. This reduces heating costs, saves energy resources and increases comfort. If the inhabitants decide to go home earlier than usual, they can turn it on before arriving.
Some innovations tested in certain cities are a sample of what the IoT will allow to carry out in the public sector in the future. On a global scale, the Internet of Things could make transportation, traffic, garbage collection, etc., much more efficient, although this would require creating a complete infrastructure of interconnected streetlights, containers, traffic lights and facades of buildings that They will capture the information through sensors.
Santander is an example of a smart city. The narrow streets of the center have thousands of sensors to measure the volume of traffic and through an app, drivers are warned of the busiest routes as well as the available parking spaces. Amsterdam, for its part, has smart street lamps that regulate the intensity of the projected light, so that when there are no pedestrians or cars nearby, they turn off, reducing light pollution and saving energy.