Robotics
Mapping the Strategic Direction of Siemens in Smart Buildings – Part 1
October 10th, 2022Beyond Video Security: Hikvision 2021 Annual Report Examined
May 9th, 2022
SoftBank Bets On Robotic Cleaning in Smart Buildings
It was not that long ago that a significant fall in the Yen was met with open arms by major Japanese companies seeking to be more competitive in the global market. However, when this month began with the currency at a 20-year low, the reaction from Japan’s biggest companies has been decidedly mixed. In recent […]
Hikvision Spinning Off Smart Home & Robotics Businesses
Chinese video surveillance Giant Hikvision (Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd.) will spin-off Smart Home business Ezviz (Hangzhou EZVIZ Network Co., Ltd.), details of which were announced in the IPO prospectus they published in December. It states that they aim to raise RMB 3.739 billion (USD 588.3 million) by listing Ezviz on the Science and […]
Robots for Guarding and Facility Management in Commercial Real Estate
Robotic technologies are changing the security landscape in commercial real estate. Two recent examples highlight the trend for incumbent players to partner with startups to maximize innovation and to ensure the effectiveness of this complementary technology in protecting the occupants of large facilities. ADT Commercial has recently established its own Innovation Lab based in Dallas, Texas […]
Facebook AI is Helping Robots Understand Buildings & Occupants
Robots can be designed to clean the floor, as long as everything they might encounter in the room has a programmed response. Suddenly introduce an open bottle of juice and the robot is likely to knock it over then smear juice all over the floor, completely unaware that it is making the situation worse. Robots […]
Brick-and-Mortar Retail Must Get Smart to Survive the Pandemic Era
This week, the 250-year-old UK department store Debenhams finally announced it would close all of its 178 outlets after nine months of struggle with the restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the US, the 118-year-old US department store J.C. Penney filed for bankruptcy in May 2020, just 2-months after the pandemic began. Business […]
The Smart Building Industry Begins to See Cleaning in a New Light
Few in-building technologies have experienced a more significant boost from the COVID-19 pandemic than UV-C light disinfection. The sanitation solution has been used for more than 40 years in disinfecting drinking water, wastewater, ventilated air, and pharmaceutical products, against a range of human pathogens. This year’s on-going global health crisis, however, has focused extra hype […]
Everybody Wants to Save the Planet But Who Wants to Clean the Floor?
“Nothing inspires cleanliness more than an unexpected guest,” said lifestyle author, Radhika Mundra, long before the arrival of coronavirus and the subsequent cleaning crusade that swept across the world. There is a growing sense that the world has changed, that things will be different after we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, “a new normal” the […]