Credencys to build IoT solutions with IBM Watson IoT

Credencys recently signed a multi-year strategic partnership agreement with IBM, adding Watson IoT (Internet of Things) and Bluemix platform capabilities to its enterprise application development services. A 48 hour ‘Hackathon’ was recently conducted by Credencys to create some unique POCs highlighting the power of IBMs platform. In this workshop, developers produced some applications while getting used to IBM’s tools, APIs, and frameworks.

Watson IoT platform is a unique platform which helps in expediting development of IoT solutions. It offers developers tools and ecosystem for connecting and managing different devices. By accessing the Watson IoT Platform on IBM Bluemix, developers can easily set up and manage IoT devices, gather live data, build dedicated mobile Apps, visualization dashboards and more. The partnership ensures that the developers at Credencys get access to all the tools and services required in building IoT applications at one place.

The Hackathon event provided a unique opportunity to software developers at Credencys who worked with Arduino Microcontrollers and sensors (humidity, temperature, air quality etc) to develop multiple PoC solutions. Notable among these were a parking management system, a two-wheeler IP camera enabled rover which is controllable remotely via a smartphone and an automatic plant watering system.

Sanjay Mittal, Associate Director – IBM India and Sandeep Agrawal, CEO Credencys Solutions interacting with developers at Hackathon

While the above systems included IoT components, the teams also used Watson APIs to develop PoCs for a kids tutor (built on Watson’s visual recognition APIs) and real-time voice language translator (built on Watson’s speech and language translation APIs). These PoCs have the potential to solve numerous real world challenges as described below:

Watson in Works

The IoT Rover

This PoC can be expanded to create solutions for monitoring hazardous and critical industrial systems which are otherwise unapproachable by human inspectors. To enable all this, the rover can be customized to include sensors for detection of toxic gasses, high or low temperature (fire threat), water level, accurate location and distance, smoke, unauthorized access and more. Similar solutions can also be developed for surveillance, security and law enforcement purposes.

Parking Management System

In big cities, finding a parking space has become a daily nuisance. According to an estimate, people spend a total of 2,549 hours (~106 days) in their lifetime searching for a parking space whether it is on the school run, the local high street or a supermarket or airport car park. Technology can play a critical role in reducing this wastage. The parking management solution, which was developed using Watson’s engines at the Hackathon is planned to be a part of Credencys logistics solution offerings.

Interactive Kids Tutor

This application was designed to interact with 2-5-year-olds, helping them recognize real world objects like animals, fruits, birds etc. The application utilizes image and speech recognition and also has the conversational ability. The PoC can be expanded to create chatbots for customer support, counseling, office reception and numerous other applications requiring routine human interaction.

Automatic Plant Watering System

The solution developed by a Credencys team utilizes soil moisture sensors to gauge requirement for watering plants at home. This solution can be extrapolated to increase the efficiency of drip irrigation systems. Further, IBMs weather forecast data can improve the scope of this solution, creating systems which can plan irrigation, weeks in advance.

Real Time Voice Language Translator

As the name suggests, this application recognizes speech in any particular language and can translate it to another language on a real-time basis. With similar solutions, news channels can source LIVE news from across the world and can broadcast it to a local audience in their preferred language. Further, such applications can assist tourists in foreign locales, ease communication between doctors and patients, customs officers and immigrating nationals, and so on.

Augment IoT with Watson’s Cognitive Abilities

A major advantage of Watson IoT platform is its Cognitive API which helps in building solutions that can leverage its proven cognitive analytics capabilities. As is well known, the real business value of IoT is not in connecting sensors, devices and things – it lies (largely untapped) in analyzing the data that all these ‘things’ produce. Applications built on Watson IoT Platform are well equipped to convert arcane data into meaningful insights for business decision makers. It’s up to businesses to explore, innovate and build applications that go beyond the obvious. For some inspiration, perhaps they should start taking science fiction seriously. Watson’s language, vision, speech and data APIs can offer an unparalleled edge to businesses. Here’s a small list of some of the more popular Watson APIs available on Watson Developer Cloud:

• AlchemyLanguage – social media listening and intelligence
• Conversation – chatbots that understand natural language
• Language Translator – build once, broadcast across multiple languages
• Speech – Speech-to-text and text-to-speech converters
• Vision – systems that can comprehend visual content
• AlchemyData News – smart news and trend analysis

Credencys Solutions Inc is a leading software development services and solutions provider which has helped numerous businesses in their business growth. Subscribe to Insights by Credencys for similar company updates, along with articles on business management, technology, strategy, leadership and more.