Lesson 5 Technology: An Engine for Change
How the IoT is Changing Our Future
It’s ____ heavily this morning.
____ was just awakened by the sound of music from his smart clock.
____ went off at six o’clock.half an hour earlier than yesterday.
Every morning his smart ____ receives traffic information and adjusts his wake-up time depending on the road conditions.
Currently it is playing a cheerful song, which was chosen to match ____ tastes and help him forget yesterday’s bad mood.
Feeling refreshed,
Feeling refreshed, Brett stands up and walks ____ his closet.
The doors open and a light ____ down on the suit that best fits his important meeting today.
When he walks into the living room, his TV turns on automatically and switches to a traffic ____
Then his kitchen ____ change colors to indicate that his coffee machine has finished brewing fresh coffee for him.
This situation could soon become reality, thanks to ____ Internet of Things (IoT).
The IoT is a network of objects that exchange and ____ upon data collected by sensors and software they have.
In this ____ everyday objects—not only traditional electronic devices but also things like food packaging and clothing—can interact with one another.
Right now many things are connected to the Internet, but they have to be manipulated ____ humans in order for information to be exchanged.
With the IoT, however, things connected to the Internet will be communicating with one another ____ human intervention.
This system ____ boost efficiency by saving us time, money, and effort.
Some reports ____ the number of connected devices to reach 1 trillion in 2025.
However, we don’t have to wait until then to ____ the effect of the IoT on our lives.
Smart Home
Smart homes are houses equipped with devices that operate automatically or can be ____ remotely.
These ____ make life more convenient.
For those ____ want to wake up without noisy music, installing smart blinds might be the answer.
These ____ slowly open in the morning to let the sun naturally wake you up.
In addition, ____ can regulate your home’s temperature by controlling the amount of sunlight allowed in.
Another helpful smart ____ is the smart refrigerator.
Gone are ____ days when you ran out of milk or eggs.
This refrigerator will keep track of all the items it contains and text you ____ get what you need the next time you go shopping.
It will also remember the expiration dates of all the items inside it, so you won’t have to worry about having ____ food.
The IoT and smart-home sensors can also protect your home ____ damage.
For example, placing moisture-detection sensors around things that might leak water, such as sinks, ____ and drains, will save you a lot of future trouble.
If the sensors detect any leaks, they will quickly notify you so that you ____ stop the leaks and prevent them from becoming bigger problems.
Furthermore, ____ a smart security system, you can enjoy a new sense of certainty and control from anywhere at any time.
Not only can this security system alert you and the police of a break-in, but it can also ____ you to use your phone to monitor your home remotely.
Smart Healthcare
Are you wearing ____ fitness tracker or a smartwatch right now?
____ you’re already participating in smart healthcare.
These IoT wearable devices track and analyze your vital signs, such ____ your heart rate and body temperature, to help you reach your fitness goals or keep healthy.
For instance, if your wearable device notices a change in your body temperature, it can warn you that you will soon be coming down with a ____
Along with fitness lovers, people suffering ____ diseases can also benefit from IoT wearable devices.
For example, a continuous *glucose monitor ____ is a small wearable device for diabetic patients.
To use it, patients must insert a disposable sensor under ____ skin.
Throughout the day, the sensor tracks the patients’ blood ____ levels and transmits that data to their smartphones.
This ____ patients to adjust their lives around their diabetes.
When this data is paired with the appropriate software, doctors can also ____ it to advise their patients accordingly.
Smart City
If our ____ and devices are smart, why not our cities too?
Barcelona is a great example of a ____ working toward that goal.
In order ____ improve the efficiency of the city’s street lamps through IoT technology, a strategy called the Barcelona Lighting Master Plan has been implemented.
Merely two years after the plan was first launched, over 1,100 lamps have been transformed into smart ____ equipped with LED lights.
____ lamps stay bright when people walk by but darken when no one is nearby.
Moreover, they also serve as free Wi-Fi hotspots and monitor the ____ air quality by using sensors.
These improvements have enhanced the efficiency of the city and resulted in an approximately 30% reduction in ____ usage as well.
The IoT is also helping many cities deal with a garbage crisis through waste-management ____
These sensors are attached inside ____ bins throughout the cities to track how full they are.
____ a sensor detects that a bin is full, it automatically requests a garbage truck.
Because of this system, the number of trips garbage trucks make ____ been greatly reduced.
Not ____ do these cities save a lot of money on operational costs, but they also have less traffic and pollution.
As we speak, conversations about the impact of the IoT are taking place all ____ the world.
Without ____ doubt, advancements in the IoT will make life much easier.
However, we should be careful not to ____ overly optimistic.
____ are also some negative aspects that we should consider, such as potential issues with privacy and security.
If we brush these issues aside, ____ is easy for our trust in IoT devices to be abused.
Therefore, it is important to understand the opportunities and challenges we will face as we build more and more things to be a part ____ the IoT.
After all, we, not our devices, should be the ones ____ our future.