As the drive toward making a comprehensive Internet of Things system continues, this year’s Computex Taipei demonstrated that many companies are expanding their reach in the sector through applications such as home security, smart vehicles and various lifestyle devices.
Many of the new applications were designed to provide consumers with more convenience by integrating the smart city and smart home concepts.
Taiwanese start-up Zillians Inc (奇群科技) demonstrated a smart feeder that employs a feline facial recognition algorithm for families that own more than one cat.
The smart feeder, CatFi, features weight sensors underneath the feeding tray, and can automatically measure and calculate a cat’s food and water intake, as well as their weight, to further understand each cat’s daily dietary status, Zillians said.
When a cat approaches the smart feeder and steps on the feeding tray, CatFi activates its facial recognition software and delivers food and water for the cat, the firm said.
“Users can monitor their cat’s daily, weekly and monthly dietary status simply by checking a mobile app developed by Zillians, which is critical to monitoring a cat’s health,” senior marketing specialist Jennifer Chiu (邱敬恩) told the Taipei Times in the company’s booth at the Computex trade show.
Chiu said measured data is collected and analyzed in Zillians’ cloud-based servers. Users can receive a warning message from the app when a cat exhibits abnormal dietary behavior, she said.
The firm plans to start worldwide shipments of CatFi, which is priced at US$199 for pre-orders including shipping, at the end of this year.
Zillians’ target markets are the US and Japan, Chiu said, as there are more than 100 million cats owned by families in the US, with an average of two cats per family.
Another Taiwanese start-up, Here Co Ltd (迪英佳科技), showcased LifeBring, which aims to remind users to take important things with them before leaving home.
LifeBring, priced at NT$1,299, includes a B-Door device, which is attached to doors, and the B-Tag, a coin-shaped device that can be put on a keychain or in a wallet, the company said.
The B-Door was designed to alert users when they forget to take their smartphones with them, while a mobile app helps users find belongings that have a B-Tag attached, the company said.
According to Computex organizers, this year more than 700 exhibitors, or 40 percent, were focused on the Internet of Things and mobile applications, followed by big data and cloud-computing technology.
Targeting corporate clients, BenQ Corp (明基電通) offered a series of integrated smart solutions, brand communication manager Debby Chen (陳蕙欣) said, referring to the company’s smart energy system on display at the annual expo.
The system was designed to collect an area’s energy consumption data and analyze it via BenQ’s cloud-based service, then offering the most efficient energy efficient conservation plans to customers, Chen said.
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商) has adopted BenQ’s energy management solutions at more than 500 stores nationwide, she said, as well as a system that instantly shows product information on a wall display when consumers pick up products from shelves.
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