Making IoT Data Meaningful with AI-Powered Cognitive Computing

Today, the world is all about industry 4.0 and the technologies brought in by it. From Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Big Data Analytics, all technologies are transforming one or the other industries in some ways. AI-powered Cognitive Computing is one such technology that provides high scale automation with ubiquitous connectivity. More so, it is redefining how IoT technology operates.

The need for Cognitive computing in the IoT emerges from the significance of information in present-day business. In the brilliant IoT settings of things to come. Everybody from new AI services companies to undertakings to use the information to settle on choices utilizing realities instead of impulses.

Cognitive computing uses information and reacts to changes inside it to decide on better options. It is based on explicit gaining from past encounters, contrasted and a standard-based choice framework.

Moreover, amid this vigorous transformation, the question arises most of the time is how to use new sources of data, combine them with data that organizations already have, to create valuable insight. Let's take The Weather Company – which IBM acquired last year – as an example. The data collected is combined with leveraging the cognitive capabilities of Watson to study the past and present data and draw out those insights. This wouldn't have been possible in the past.

Analyst firm Gartner forecast 6.4 billion connected devices will be used worldwide in 2016, jumping to 20.8 billion by 2020. But many of those devices will be relatively dumb, including things like fitness trackers, connected speakers, and cameras. The real value from the internet of things (IoT) devices could come from backing up a data connection with cognitive computing systems. This turns a connected device from something that strictly generates data into something much more interactive.

Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals is using a similar approach to help improve the patient experience. The health system recently unveiled a speaker and microphone system that can be embedded in patient rooms. Patients can speak questions about hospital services or commands that control the room's heating and cooling, lighting and entertainment systems.

The system is built around Watson's NLP and classifier engines. Together, these tools decipher patients' requests and then, through tie-ins to the building's HVAC and entertainment systems, take an action. The health system is currently training the machine learning algorithms that process voice commands and will begin rolling it out to patient rooms once it achieves accuracy in processing requests of over 90%.

Besides, General Motors announced a new link between its OnStar vehicle connectivity system and the IBM Watson cognitive computing system. The new platform lets users set up reminders for tasks to complete on a certain trip, receive traffic alerts while on their way to work or pay for gas from the dashboard system. These services tie into Watson on the back end and learn drivers' habits to deliver more personalized recommendations and services over time.

GM's CEO Mary Barra said the combination of IoT and cognitive computing systems will lead to greater changes than the auto industry has ever seen, and it's important for the company to keep pace.