Kickstarting the decade of exponential technologies
Brian Sathianathan
Serial Entrepreneur, Co-Founder Iterate.ai, Member of Apple's first iPhone Team
[A special thanks to our team members Solomon Ray, Mariana Uribe, John Selvadurai and Julian Dean Morais for helping me on this Article]
Alexa turns the lights for you when you wake up. Nest changes the temperature based on your previous settings. Google maps know the best traffic route on your commute. We are living in a world that is assisted and governed by algorithms. The proliferation of technology is not surprising; however, its exponential pace of adoption in all aspects of our lives has arrived abruptly and oftentimes unexpectedly.
At CES 2020, Iterate’s Strategy & Curation Team had the opportunity to see even more technology applications and how they could pan out along the following themes.
Themes:
- Autonomous and multimodal transport
- Human-machine symbiosis
- AI and Synthetic experiences
- Wearables and connected experiences
- Improving data for better applications
Autonomous and multimodal transport
In most major US cities, there are several ways to make the same trip. A commuter might begin the day with a bike ride to the train station, ride the line to work, take a rideshare to the grocery store and finish off the night in a taxi. Creating a network of linked transportation options along a direction of travel would allow commuters to leverage the best option for the given context. In addition, we are also seeing several companies jumping on building autonomous kits for vehicles. Combining multimodal transport with autonomous vehicles and a one-stop app makes it a seamless experience for the traveler. Our Signals platform tracks these trends from various sources.
Human Machine Symbiosis
This term describes the way that machine learning-based AI, robotics, and humans will develop and evolve together. Although we are still far from terminators and transformers, we have a better and practical use for this trend. With the use of Exoskeletons, this trend is taking shape and addressing mainstream use cases on travel and assisted living. A recent noteworthy example is runner Adam Gorlitsky, a paralyzed man from the waist down, who finished the Charleston Marathon in a record-breaking 33 hours, 16 minutes and 28 seconds.
Signals Dashboard: News Articles on the topic
AI and Synthetic experiences
These developments in AI and machine learning (ML) are concurrently taking place with massive leaps in immersive experiences along with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). With recent innovations around generative adversarial networks(GANs), it is possible to build real looking machine-generated personalities. Apart from visual experiences, these AI technologies can be used to create voice and olfaction experiences and eventually all the other senses.
Wearables and connected experiences
The global wearable technology market is projected to be $57B by 2020 at 16% CAGR growth. Conversely, the Connected Home market is estimated to reach $262.63B growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% till 2025. The strong adoption of these technologies among consumers might even soon usher a world where companies have to build their applications first for the wearable world or a “Wearable First”.
Improving data for better applications
Data is the oil of the 21st century which powers all connected and digital applications. At the beginning of 2010, based on IDC estimates, there were 1.2 zettabytes (1.2 trillion gigabytes) of new data that was created at that time, up from 0.8 zettabytes the year before. The amount of the newly created data in 2020 was predicted to grow 44X to reach 35 zettabytes (35 trillion gigabytes) and reaching 175 zettabytes (175 trillion gigabytes) by 2025. These predictions are becoming a reality with the arrival of 5G networks, as well as data generated by systems and humans.
Below is a list of innovations we found at CES that matches our themes.
Theme: Autonomous and multimodal transport
Company Name: Hyundai + Uber
Website: https://www.hyundainews.com/en-us/releases/2954
Description: Named the S-A1 and referred to as an electric-power Personal Air Vehicles (PAVs), this four-seat vehicle equipped with four propellers can take off and land vertically, cruise at up to 180 miles per hour 2,000 feet above the ground, and travel as far as 60 miles on one trip. According to Hyundai, the S-A1 is safer than helicopters and prototypes will be operational in 2023. The partnership between Uber and Hyundai is key to take transportation to a whole new level. Hyundai “aims to free future cities and people from constraints of time and space and allow them to create more value in their lives.”
Why is this interesting: Multimodal transport, revolutionizing autonomous transport.
Theme: Human-machine symbiosis
Company/s Name: Sarcos Robotics + Delta Airlines / C-Frex
Website: www.sarcos.com
Description: This robot-enhanced wearable system augments human performance to make employees and the workplace safer. Delta has partnered with Sarcos to apply the technology for its workers handling luggage and installing heavy airplane parts. The suit amplifies up to 20 times a human's strength and allows people to stay longer in their jobs by making it easier to do heavy manual work.
Why is this interesting: This creates an opportunity for humans to overcome physical limitations and strength and agility, empowering them to obtain new and harder goals that would not be humanly possible.
Themes: Autonomous and multimodal transport
Company Name: DeepRoute L4
Website: www.deeproute.ai
Description: This kit converts any vehicle to an autonomous, sensing solution. It has a sleek, lightweight set-top box and leading sensor fusion calibration service. The roof box consists of 8 vehicle cameras, 3LiDARs, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and a series of other sensors to help correspondence and data synchronization between the controllers. a self-developed in-vehicle camera created by DeepRoute, featuring anti-glare, anti-ghosting and highly reliable signal detection.
Why is this interesting: It is a pluggable tech existing vehicle can easily use this and lowers the entry barrier to the category. It will enable the autonomous vehicle industry to reach a quicker sensor deployment to the market, at a lower cost.
Themes: Human-machine symbiosis
Company Name: Bodyo
Website: https://bodyo.com/
Description: Tools/booth to monitor health BodyO’s AI POD offers a self-service one-stop full-body digital scanner that features 19 measurements with the ability to track a wide range of vital health indicators in just 10 minutes. It’s a fitness and wellness app for people on the go, offers personalized basic and specific programs adapted to the user's true health state, offers virtual coaching, exercises and recipes.
Why is this interesting: Interesting for companies in the pharmacy and health retail space. A big part of any doctor visit is the vitals checkup. This makes doctor visits and triages simpler.
Themes: Connected Experiences
Company Name/s: Pillo Health/ Pria (Black & Decker)
Website: https://pillohealth.com/
Description: IoT device to monitor health home health assistant. Using a combination of adaptive AI and thoughtfully designed hardware, the proactive and secure digital health companion offers enterprise solutions that Bring Healthcare into the Home.
Why is this interesting: This technology helps with connected health and assisted living for the elderly. It allows personalization and engagement to achieve a behavior shift to empower users and promote safer consumption.
Themes: Wearables and Connected Experiences
Company Name: Aura Devices
Website: https://auraband.io
Description: Smart wearable device to accurately measure various biometrics using impedance. Consumers can access their fat/muscle volume and hydration information from just wearing the wristband with their wearables.
Why is this interesting: It is the perfect complement to your wearable watch; users have access to current biometrics from an immediate bioimpedance analysis.
Themes: Wearables and Connected Experiences
Company Name: Reducept
Website: www.reducept.com
Description: VR based chronic pain therapy, starting from where you feel it, working to where you control it, avoiding dependency on pain medication.
Why is this interesting: Teaches you to train your brain and control your pain in Virtual Reality. Specially developed chronic pain, and it is customized per patient since each person has different needs.
Themes: Connected Experiences
Company Name: CareOS
Website: https://www.care-os.com/
Description: Bathroom of the future. CareOS is a privacy-by-design, intuitive open platform that works naturally into your care, beauty and health rituals. It makes the best possible use of the time you spend in front of a mirror to improve your well-being by organizing and enhancing information from any connected device, digital service and CareOS’ own AI.
Why is this interesting: It is a digital mirror that integrates people’s needs and settings to create a personalized experience, that can go from entertainment to health, customizable by ages, interests, etc. They have an open platform to integrate with third-party applications.
Themes: Connected Experiences
Company Name: Living packets
Website: https://www.livingpackets.com/
Description: Smart and durable packaging, that eliminates 100 billion cartons each year, saving 700 million trees while delivering the best e-commerce experience.
Why is this interesting: Convenient and smart packaging that while being sustainable, people have access to packaging, shipping, tracking, insurance, payments, and more from their smartphones with high-security standards.
Themes: Improving data for better applications
Company Name: Commerce.ai
Website: https://www.commerce.ai/
Description: AI-based product insights from product reviews, and comments. Using deep learning technology scans the world’s product information and consumer opinions in forms of text, comments, images posted by users, video clips, audio files. processes all this info to form an understanding of the products in the world.
Why is this interesting: Enhance product sentiment, auto-generate product catalog, predict product recall, these workflows can be done in seconds, in an automatic, language-agnostic and scalable, when it would take weeks or months.
Themes: Connected Experience
Company Name: Myfood
Website: www.myfood.eu
Description: Smart Greenhouse and urban garden. AI Technology - has a smart box that collects parameters useful to the control of the greenhouse-like the acidity and the temperature of the water. Their agronomists team ensures accurate monitoring of all Pioneers. Changes, improvements, and actions related to harvesting or maintenance are also recorded to provide relevant recommendations throughout the growing seasons.
Why is this interesting: People can now have their own smart greenhouse/ urban garden at home with the help of an expert through their apps to monitor the plants, water, etc.
Themes: Improving data for better applications
Company Name: Mindtech
Website: www.mindtech.global
Description: Synthetic data creation for the training of neural networks. AI-enabled visual processing solutions solving real-world problems.
Why is this interesting: It enables anyone, anywhere to benefit from the AI revolution, democratizing it. AI toolchain manages data-wrangling requirements, merging and augmenting "real" data with the synthetic data generated by our tools especially when there is a lack of data
Themes: Connected Experiences
Company Name: Neon
Website: www.neon.life
Description: Synthetic humans/artificial humans or Digital Humans are computationally created virtual are capable of understanding and responding to human interactions and demonstrate emotions and intelligence.
Why is this interesting: For a more human-connection between a brand and a customer, artificial humans are able to connect and relate to a human being due to their life-like look and foreign language capabilities. They can help provide advice, information, instructions, and education removing the need for human labor on remedial tasks.
Themes: Connected Experiences
Company Name: Duolab
Website: www.duolab.com
Description: Single-dose personalized skincare. We pack natural active ingredients with exceptional concentration rates into each capsule. Their formulas contain at least 93% natural ingredients and are vegetarian-friendly.
Why is this interesting: In just 90 seconds, you can mix your personalized duo of capsules to create your daily dose of face cream in a fresh way. It is heated to complement your skin temperature so it can penetrate more effectively.
Themes: Connected Experiences
Company Name: Compoz
Website: https://compoz-parfum.com/
Description: Digital fragrance diffuser, hundreds of unique and personalized fragrances can be created. The machine can hold up to five scented oil pods at once and people will be able to save their favorite creations.
Why is this interesting: It can create an immediate personalized scent. Their patented diffusion technology is not liquid-based, avoiding the saturation of smells common from other diffusers.
Themes: Connected Experiences
Company Name: Immoshoot
Website: https://www.immoshoot.info/
Description: Interactive real estate data tool that users access information about a location or property from a mobile device. The app recognizes the photo and geo-marks the property and shares relevant information from its community portal. All the data is collected onto a collaborate map where users can update the information.
Why is this interesting: They have indexed over 300,000 real estate ads and are powered by an ML-driven OCR (Optical Character Recognition) system that integrates shooting distance and precise address within one second response time.
We're privileged to be living in a time where science and technology can dramatically change us for good, make our lives easier and rethink the ways we go about our daily lives, it is very evident from the technologies seen at CES. Many innovators have their vision of a connected world, AI-based algorithms, autonomous convenience, etc. Which/Whose idea/s will ultimately succeed? The answer is whoever keeps innovating, iterating, experimenting and providing the best experience to the consumer.
About Iterate’s Strategy& Curation Team
Iterate's Strategy& Curation team provides analysis and recommendations to solve innovation challenges for its enterprise members. This team is the core engine that drives Iterate's engagements: developing strategic roadmaps, advising innovation and market trends, curating startup technologies, and conducting due diligence on M&A opportunities.
The team brings a unique perspective and rich insights into different industries such as retail, luxury, fashion, beauty, and pharmaceutical. As technology progresses into a cloud-native, data dominated, AI-powered, IoT world, Iterate has the insights to identify key opportunities and innovate quickly.
You can read more about our team here: