Solutions Stole the Show at IoT Solutions World Congress 2019 in Barcelona

Hannah White
Illustration: © IoT For All

Over four thousand visitors descended upon the Fira Gran Via conference hall in Barcelona to meet with over 350 exhibitors for the 2019 IoT Solutions World Congress event. IoT For All joined the masses to cover the premier IoT event in Europe this week. 

Bill Hoffman, the President of Object Management Group and a key stakeholder in IOTSWC, believes we are “clearly past the early innovator phase of the IoT market, now we need to find out how we get it more mainstream”. The answer according to Bill and the conference? Market ready end-to-end IoT solutions. 

With solutions in mind, our team set off to bring you the most impressive solutions we saw from the conference that are making waves in their industries. 

Industrial IoT

Industrial IoT was definitely the darling of the show this year. The vast majority of companies we spoke with were innovating in the Industrial IoT space. Some solutions were flashy, with autonomous robot arms and AI assistants. Others were simple and straightforward, utilizing cheap sensors for remote monitoring and asset tracking. Altogether, it’s quite obvious that at this conference, value creation for the end customer is king. 

Zyfra, a 2-year-old international startup headquartered in Helsinki, made waves at IOTSWC when they won best solution for business transformation. Their project, “Intelligent Mine”, turns mining into a highly efficient, safe and automated activity. The solution incorporates robotized load-haul systems that communicate with a remote control center. The project was developed for SUEK, Russia’s leading coal and energy producer. The robotized system is the key to creating safe operating conditions in extreme environments, like the harsh northern climate in Russia. Overall, the solution cuts production costs by 2-3%, a win-win for everyone involved. 

Another award winner this year was Bioservo. Their project Ironhand, a bionic glove that combines robotics and IoT to strengthen the user’s muscles, won best solution for the industry. Factory workers wear the gloves when completing tasks like welding, drilling, hammering and more. The bionic glove reduces the amount of effort the worker puts in. Depending on the task, this reduction can range from 25-80%. Prevention is the best form of action for these workers who repeatedly put their bodies through the physical stressors included in manual labor. Bioservo’s partner in the production of Ironhand, Effiage, has won multiple awards for improving worker conditions and safety.

Asset Tracking

If you were to take a poll of every attendee on what the most popular Applications in the IoT industry are, we would be shocked if asset tracking was not at the top of that list. Whether it be people, heavy machinery, shipments or vehicles, knowing the location and health of assets is critical to the success of any operation. 

Tracktio is tackling the diverse field of asset tracking technologies and solutions with their all-in-one tracking platform, TrackSphere. There is no one size fits all asset tracking technology, therefore Tracktio has developed 3 different approaches that they use depending on the requirements of the application. To unlock ultra-high precision for indoor and outdoor tracking solutions, Tracktio uses Ultrawideband RTLS for accuracy down to 30cm. If a client is interested in proximity or zone-based asset tracking, Tracktio deploys their WideArea Tracking solution that relies on a combination of LoRa, GPS and BLE. For a cost-conscious bulk solution, Tracktio partners with third party RFID readers to provide a simple solution at a low cost. 

Accent Systems is an enterprise-focused IoT solutions development company. Their main business is designing and developing tailored IoT devices from their customers ideas and coupling them with software to deliver end-to-end solutions that solve real problems. One of those problems is managing and monitoring assets in real-time. Their platform, Inmolecular, integrates IoT devices, based on satellite, WiFi and beacon technologies, to create the ideal IoT ecosystem for indoor and outdoor location, with a high level of accuracy and battery life.

Agriculture

As one of the most talked about verticals in IoT, agriculture solutions, were undoubtedly a major player this year. From crop monitoring and control systems, to robust devices to monitor processes and facilities on farms, it was difficult to walk very far without running into a new game-changing solution for the agriculture industry. 

Smarteye, a crop control and monitoring system, is a joint venture by Integra, Libelium and Microsoft Azure. The system is capable of measuring all the variables that affect the fields and allow the farmer to make the most appropriate decisions for their harvest. The hardware is provided by Libelium, the platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure, and Integra is the system’s integrator, responsible for the overall product. With the product already available on the market, all three companies are benefiting from the partnership. 

MCSystems has a focus that spans agricultural and industrial verticals. Their flagship products SiloMetric and FluidMetric enabling the precise monitoring of materials and liquids inside silos and tanks. SiloMetric is an easy to install device that uses a Class II laser to monitor solid materials inside silos and bins with +/- 3mm accuracy. Its counterpart, FluidMetric, uses ultrasound to measure levels of liquids inside silos and tanks with the same level of accuracy. Accompanied with their easy-to-use UI, their robust turnkey solution was a major attention-grabber at IOTSWC for those looking for agriculture and industrial facilities monitoring solutions.

Consumer Products 

For a conference that’s focused on the B2B IoT solution space, it’s no surprise that consumer products were few and far between. But we still stumbled across a few on the conference floor and couldn’t help but share our favorite with our readers. 

Geeksme easily won our hearts with their branding and bright, colorful booth. Their biggest product (literally and figuratively) was their smart mattress. Geeksme and their partner Pikolin began international expansion earlier this year after initially launching in Spain. The rest system integrated into the mattress measures the quality and quantity of sleep of the owner. The rest system pairs with a smart bracelet that tracks activity. The mattress and bracelet report to the coach mobile app, where users can analyze their sleep data and choose between four different modes: sleep mode, coach mode, activity mode and love mode. 

If there is one thing IOTSWC made clear for us, it’s that solutions are the future of IoT. Buyers of IoT solutions don’t want to be bogged down in the details and the technology, they want something that just works. For solutions to succeed in the IoT space, companies in the hardware, network and software space must come together to build the IoT solutions of the future.  

Author
Hannah White
Hannah White - Head of Product, IoT For All
Hannah is the Head of Product at IoT For All. She's passionate about the potential of the Internet of Things and how it will impact society, focusing her energy on crafting IoT experiences that are simple, intuitive, and stunning. When she's not w...
Hannah is the Head of Product at IoT For All. She's passionate about the potential of the Internet of Things and how it will impact society, focusing her energy on crafting IoT experiences that are simple, intuitive, and stunning. When she's not w...