Eureka Park continues to be my favorite part of CES and it was made a bit more magical this year. I had just started to ask a question to an international exhibitor when his gaze shifted and asked: “Can I take a picture with you?” My mind thinking surely this must be a mistranslation or could it be my blog post has gone viral? I know Zpryme is good but… I am snapped back to reality when a voice behind me says “sure.” I turn around to see Las Vegas icon and magician David Copperfield. You never know what you are going to see at CES, let alone Eureka Park. Here is a quick summary of the innovative Smart City/Utility start-ups I saw today at CES.
Water Leak Detection
Water Wise Controls (https://wawico.com/) has developed a $100 device that easily clamps on any accessible water supply pipe in your house and uses Mirco Electrical-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors to listen for little sounds of water moving in the pipe. This sensor data is sent over your WiFi network to a cloud system that monitors the data for variations in previously observed usage patterns. They have a few thousand devices deployed so far and the next production batch will be available for sale on Amazon soon.
Social Network for Shared Community Solar Networks
French company SUNLEAVS (https://sunleavs.com/en/) has developed a low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) sensor that collects energy usage for each home participating in a community solar farm. Using machine learning techniques they take the traditional community solar model one step further by dynamically allocating energy production credits to each member tying actual solar generation with real-time consumption. As well, any additional consumption is provided at normal utility grid rates when solar is not available. The company is not currently focused on applying this to a community-owned battery but that might be something they will add as battery cost becomes economic. Maybe this is the start of an era of community-owned, democratic microgrids.
Greywater Recycling System
At Eureka Park, you get to see so many early-stage ideas, knowing most will not make it. But occasionally you come across something that should have been exhibited by the big vendors in the main halls. For me, that is Hydraloop (https://www.hydraloop.com/). This greywater recycling system has such an attractive design you will want to change out your other appliances to match it. The ideal application would be for new construction or where basement access to all plumbing would allow for easy reconfiguration. This system recycles water from clothes and dishwashing machines, showers, tubs, and potentially rainwater capture containers and brings the water quality up to international standards so it can be used for irrigation, clothes washing, and toilet flushing. In places where water restrictions are the norm, you are going to see these types of products become necessities rather than niceties.
Home Cybersecurity Privacy
This is probably something you do not realize you need yet but this small hardware appliance which sits between your home internet modem and your wired/wireless router will protect your data privacy and internet security without requiring you to be a certified cybersecurity expert. The $250 Winston privacy device (https://winstonprivacy.com/) works in the background on your home area network to scramble all data communications to the outside world while not impacting the operation of all your connected devices.
Underground Augmented Reality/ 3D Point Cloud Capture
The second French company to make the list is underground Utility augmented reality (AR) provider Syslor (https://www.syslor.net/en). There are a number of Geographic Information System (GIS) AR applications on the market but the problem with most of them is that the underlying map accuracy does not support the concept that it is safe to dig because the map depicts slightly off that location in the real-world. That’s why Utilities still have to physically locate underground facilities with sensor technology and spray paint to mark them. Syslor has developed an accurate GPS locating wand with an integrated video camera that can be used to create a three-dimension digital point map of the facilities while the underground trenches are exposed. This highly accurate 3D data can then be returned to augment the GIS record and aid future work orders. The GPS/ 3D video capturing wand can be used to rectify the GIS data to above-ground visible access points such as manholes, valve covers, or pavement patches used in past trenching activities.
Clean Energy On-Demand
Skoon Energy (https://skoon.world/) from the Netherlands has come up with a novel approach using shipping container-based grid batteries on a short-term rental model. Providing battery generators for large events, construction sites, or maritime applications, Skoon will send you a fully charged battery to replace traditional diesel generators for costly electrical service extensions for short duration events. Although the company only supports Europe today the concept could be applied anywhere in the world.
Tomorrow is the final day at CES for me and I will wrap up this series with one last blog post. For those who have been following from day one, thank you, and do you remember when I described a CES speaker that dampened my enthusiasm for impending robo-taxi invasion over left behind coffee cups and sunglasses? Well, the French have already solved that too. TChek (https://www.tchek.fr/en/) has created a 5-second automated vehicle inspection system using camera systems and A.I. which could be modified to route cars to cleaning facilities while assessing the previous renter a fee.
