7 Nov  -  Dr Lynn Wilcox is the chief technology officer at Fuji Xerox’s Palo Alto Laboratory (FXPAL) in California and an expert in the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).  Recently, Wilcox and her team at FXPAL have been working on projects in the ambient intelligence space – that is, the real world, practical application of IoT and AI.

From a smart teleconferencing system that will notify individuals interrupting the meeting to tracking the location of patients in a hospital, as Ambient Intelligence develops - the impact it could have across all industries is exciting.

But what exactly is Ambient Intelligence and why should we care about it?

In anticipation of her upcoming visit to New Zealand, Wilcox breaks down why we should be excited about Ambient Intelligence, what’s going on at FXPAL at the moment and what happens when the use of IoT technologies becomes unethical.

What is Ambient Intelligence, and why should enterprises be excited about it?

Ambient Intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to people.

It utilises IoT to collect data about people and the environment from various types of sensors. It then analyses and makes inferences from this sensor data using AI to provide personalised and contextual actions.

Ambient Intelligence has the power to make work more efficient - for example, by automatically knowing when you walk into a conference room that you would like to display the agenda and other information about the meeting that has been scheduled for this time, and order preferred beverages for the people scheduled to attend the meeting.

How does FXPAL work, do you develop technology solely for Fuji Xerox, or do you do work with other partners?

FXPAL is a research lab wholly funded by Fuji Xerox.

We develop prototypes to demonstrate technology and if there is interest we deploy the technology outside the lab to test real use cases. Our primary goal is to provide successful technology to Fuji Xerox for commercialisation.

In certain cases where FX is not interested in using the technology for their business, we license it to third parties. We also generate a good amount of Intellectual Property in the form of patents, which Fuji Xerox commercialises.

FXPAL is developing some very exciting AI and IoT technology with the capability to track the location of people in factories and hospitals, could you tell me about what has gone into developing these technologies?

The work began as a project to help locate co-workers in and out of the office and used a variety of technology such as GPS, device monitoring and cameras. To achieve more precise indoor localization, we began experimenting with BLE beacons.

FX Australia got interested in the technology and asked us to help develop a solution for office space management that could track which offices and meeting rooms were in use and how frequently various types of space was used. After that, the business development team at FXPAL found an application for patient management at a health care facility and we helped them deploy our technology there.

Last year Fuji Xerox Manufacturing executives visited FXPAL and saw a demonstration of our localisation technology and invited us to do a trial at the FX Suzuka factory.

We did the initial deployment this summer and are working with the factory to maximise the utility of the technology.

How often would you scrap a project?

Do you ever get right to the final stages of development before you decide the technology won’t work?

The typical research cycle is to first describe the concept, usually in an Invention Proposal, then demonstrate the concept to others, then build a prototype to test outside the lab.

There are checks at each of these stages. For example, we review Invention Proposals and if the idea is not sound or has already been described by someone else, research is stopped.

Similarly with demos, if they are not convincing the project is stopped. Finally, if the prototype fails or if no business case can be found we stop the work.

Many of our research projects are never used in products or solutions, sometimes because the technology is just too early for the market.

Could you discuss the FXPAL’s development of a secure document viewer that only allows viewing of an electronic document in secure locations?

Where are you at in the development of this technology and what would define, or who would define, a secure location?

We are at the demo stage of this technology.

We can demonstrate how a secure viewer would work by using our indoor location technology to determine whether you are inside the secure location or not. To secure a specified location, for example an executive office space, we simply deploy beacons around the office.

So far, we have not developed a location aware document viewer that would be needed for a prototype system.

One of the projects that FXPAL is working on that’s really intriguing is the creation of a smart teleconferencing systems that will monitor participants, notifying them if they are interrupting the conversation, or speaking too much.

Could you tell me more about it?

How does it make decisions such as what’s interrupting and what’s considered a contribution?

The system analyses the audio and video content of the video stream during the teleconference. It knows when each of the speakers is talking, and so can detect when a speaker begins talking while another person is talking - that’s an interruption.

It keeps statistics on how long each person is speaking during the meeting and visualises this by smaller or larger circles depending on how much each speaker is talking, so it is easy to see how your circle compares to others.

When can the use of IoT and smart technologies by enterprises, or any users, cross the line and become unethical?

How can this be monitored and prevented, and is there a danger in the power these technologies could give certain users?

That’s a good question - the same problems already arise with our online activities. There we encrypt information before sending it over open networks.

The same could and should be done for IoT devices. I think the general rule is that if a technology provides sufficient value to us we overlook the loss of privacy.

A good example is surveillance cameras.

At first we rejected them but now seeing their value in preventing crime and terrorism, everyone accepts them.

What excites you about the future of IoT? What area would you like to see IoT, AI and AR move into?

I’m particularly excited about AR, which uses IoT for localisation and AI for vision.

I’d like to see AR used for providing more information about things and places in the real world. In the digital world, I can learn more about something by doing a search.

With AR, I’d be able to look at something, for example building, and see information about its history or how it was constructed.

This would be possible with an AR wearable device that could sense my location, then recognise the building, search for related information and project it on a wearable display.

| An ITBrief release  ||  November 7,  2017   |||

7 Nov  -  Oracle is diving headlong into its quest to get more traction in the Australian and New Zealand small to mid-market with the launch of its digital hub in Sydney.  The new hub, the first to be opened in Australia, is one of five digital hubs the software vendor is establishing up in the broader Asia Pacific region.  It is part of a global network of best practice centres for small and medium-sized business (SMB) and is set to serve smaller clients on both sides of the Tasman.

The tech giant first announced in November last year its plans to create hundreds of new jobs focused on cloud technologies, through the opening of a digital sales hub in Sydney.

The software vendor said it would house a new team of over 200 digital sales professionals, designed to help mid-sized organisations transition to the cloud.

“Cloud is changing the heart of business in Australia, and at an unprecedented pace,” Oracle Australia and New Zealand managing director, Rob Willis, said at the time.

“We are seeing companies selecting and starting to use their new platforms in less than six weeks in some cases,” he said.

Now, the Sydney hub has finally arrived, and is set to house Oracle’s new digital sales team, which will be squarely focused on helping mid-sized organisations transition to the cloud, and to “transform the buying experience”.

With the arrival of the new centre, end customers that want to buy Oracle products entirely online can use the vendor’s click-to-buy Oracle Accelerated Buying Experience platform.

The digital hubs will also provide a complete suite of cloud applications, platform and infrastructure services, as both standalone offerings and as bundles.

“There are more than two million SMBs in Australia, many of whom haven’t worked with Oracle or used cloud before,” Oracle’s A/NZ head of application for digital, Malcolm Ferguson, said.

“They now have access to the most modern solutions in the market, available online, direct via the hub and through our expanded end-to-end ecosystem, working with the vast network in A/NZ.

“The increased choice in cloud technology will help accelerate SMBs’ ability to innovate and grow more quickly, paving the way for the next big SMB revolution in the country. This solid investment reiterates our strong commitment to Australia,” he said.

While the launch of the new hub provides the facility for end clients to buy directly from Oracle, the vendor has stressed that it does not mean partners will be cut out of the picture when it comes to making a margin from deals in the potentially lucrative local mid-market.

“Our ecosystem is very, very important for us,” Ferguson told ARN. “We’re going to rely quite heavily on our partner community to provide the professional services to implement the products. That does not change.

“We will still be looking to our partner community to resell. So that doesn’t go away. In fact, we’re in the process at the moment of building that out….the reseller model and the service delivery model is very much a part of the Oracle digital strategy,” he said.

Not only will partners have the potential to provide services around the Oracle products end customers sign up for, according to Ferguson, they will also be able to either direct end clients to the click-to-buy portal or work through one of the vendor’s value-added distributors.

The move to open the hub locally is part of an effort by Oracle to look beyond its traditional top-end enterprise market and make a broader attack on the smaller end of the market, with a focus on organisations with turnovers of between $10 million and $250 million annually.

It is also part of a larger strategy by Oracle to push its cloud-based solutions and services to a market that may not have the infrastructure in place to handle the vendor’s offerings in an on-premises scenario.

The move follows multiple claims by Oracle co-founder and chairman, Larry Ellison, that the software giant is closing in on undisputed public cloud vendor, Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the cloud market stakes.

“Amazon is going to have serious competition going forward,” Ellison claimed during the Oracle OpenWorld 2016 event in San Francisco late last year. “And we're very proud of our second generation of infrastructure-as-a-service.”

| A ResellerNews release  ||  November 7,  2017   |||

7 Nov  -  With the risk to foreign student export market from potential changes to immigration policy, the government should increase its focus on the little cousin of education exports, edtech, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says. The education export industry is a $3billion market of which the majority is made up of bringing in foreign students. Today is the launch in Auckland of EdTechNZ, which is focused on growing and nurturing education tech in New Zealand, and is part of the New Zealand Tech Alliance. “While edtech is probably less than a $100 million export market at the moment we are well known internationally for our education system and a number of Kiwi edtech companies are doing very well internationally,” Muller says. “We have some great examples such as Hapara, Matheletics and Wendy Pye Publishing. Another success story is Christchurch based Linewize which developed an education specific internet management tool which competed with the government owned Network for Learning. “Linewize quickly grew an international market with the support of the New Zealand Punakaiki Investment Fund and last month was purchased by Australian stock exchange-listed Family Zone. “The edtech market, while currently small for New Zealand, is forecast to be a $344 billion global market by 2019. More than 140 edtech companies have been identified in New Zealand and a group of them have joined forces to form EdTechNZ to collaborate and support the development of edtech not only for export, but also for the benefit of the local New Zealand education sector.” Digital technologies are rapidly causing changes to work not seen since the industrial revolution. This is a global challenge and, according to the OECD, schools have yet to take advantage of the potential of technology in the classroom in order to give every student the skills they need for today’s connected world. Technology is enabling a transformation of the education system. A shift is occurring from instructional education to a more personalised, self-directed and collaborative learning experience. Increased use of computers in classrooms and increased internet connectivity are impacting on education.Technology is not only helping teachers become more efficient and saving schools money, but it is also helping to improve the quality of education which often still relies heavily on Victorian-era lecturing methods,” Muller says.

“Our studies have found that if New Zealand was to raise its education outcomes over a period of 20 years to a level comparable with Finland it would generate a 204 percent increase in GDP worth an additional US$258 billion,” Muller says, “so education is critical to our nation’s future prosperity.”

| An NZTech release  ||  November 7,  2017   |||

2 Nov[] The increasing interconnection of devices and vast flows of data between machines are transforming factory floors around the world.  From robots that work alongside humans to tracking components throughout the logistics system, the internet of things (IoT) is reshaping the way products are designed and made — and changing the role of humans in manufacturing.

CobotsUnlike traditional industrial robots hidden behind cages, like those that weld car bodies, collaborative robots — or cobots — work alongside humans and have been spreading across production lines.

They are typically smaller, flexible and mobile, as well as being cheaper than their heavy-duty cousins. They are also slower, but cobots are highly adaptable and can be assigned to different tasks.

“[Cobots] can learn by imitation. They tend to have cameras with vision recognition software. You can move the hand of the robot, you do a task and after a few minutes the robot is programmed,” says Jonathan Cohen, portfolio manager of the $90m RoboCap UCITS Fund. This compares with 50 to 200 hours to program larger industrial robots, he adds.

One of the biggest cobot manufacturers is Universal Robots of Denmark, which was acquired for $285m in 2015 by Teradyne, a US supplier of automation equipment. Uses of its machines include putting confectionery in boxes, polishing objects and screwdriving.

While many fear that robots will steal people’s jobs, proponents say cobots can improve health and safety conditions for humans by performing repetitive tasks that require uncomfortable movements such as twisting or lifting heavy objects.Additive manufacturingThis is also known as 3D printing, because it involves building objects layer by layer out of substrates such as polymer or metal. Complex patterns based on digital designs that may not be possible with traditional manufacturing techniques can be made with less material and fewer process steps.

Additive manufacturing has existed for more than three decades but has been limited by its expense and slowness. However, more real-world applications are emerging.

Continue here to read full article on Financila Times  ||  November 2,  2017   |||

31 Oct:  The Science for Technological Innovation (SfTI) National Science Challenge Board is providing $2m of funding for a project to develop adaptable, cheaply reconfigured, rapidly deployed ‘workforce’ robots able to learn from their environments. Project will examine how robotics can deliver an economic boost to NZ writes Stuart Corner for Computerworld New Zealand.  SfTI said the project would take a long-term view and examine how robotics could provide solutions for New Zealand’s economic needs.

Specifically, the programme will look into automated and autonomous technologies for small scale, high value, production; delve into ‘learning’ robots; and look at how robots can operate in rugged outdoor environments.

“Researchers will seek to develop new paradigms in robot autonomy and adaptability, including predictive environmental sensor fusion, and automatic improvement of AI-based interpretation of data,” according to SfTI.

The research group will also investigate workforce robots that could ‘communicate’, learn, and collaboratively work alongside humans, and investigate ‘non-written cues’, and the use of icons to communicate and exchange information.

SfTI said the collaborative structure of the research project across academic, commercial and industrial manufacturing sectors would create a dynamic network of information and expertise that will generate new knowledge, skills and revenue.

“From a commercial perspective the primary sector, including agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture and forestry, will directly benefit from the introduction of highly adaptable robots. Robust robots can assist in pre- and post-harvest processes eg cropping, pruning, monitoring nutrients in run off and leaching, and manage environmental inputs like precision agriculture and nutrient management,” SfTI said.

The project will involve researchers from Lincoln Agritech and SCION, as well as Auckland, Victoria, Massey, Canterbury and Otago Universities.

SfTI Director, Sally Davenport, said: “this is a forward-looking project aimed at underpinning future small-scale production of tailored, high value robots with wide application and an eye on export.”

Davenport said the projects brought to seven the number of spearheads projects funded since the SfTI Challenge launched two years ago with a $32.9m budget. SfTI had also funded a further 28 smaller high-risk, potentially high reward, SEED research projects in that time.

| An SfTI release  ||  October 31,  2017   |||

With what3words, Chris Sheldrick and his team have divided the entire planet into three-meter squares and assigned each a unique, three-word identifier, like famous.splice.writers or blocks.evenly.breed, giving a precise address to the billions of people worldwide who don't have one.

In this quick talk about a big idea, Sheldrick explains the economic and political implications of giving everyone an accurate address -- from building infrastructure to sending aid to disaster zones to delivering hot pizza. 

You can view the address by Chris here

| A TED release   ||  October 19,  2017   |||

Rocket Lab has won the supreme accolade at the New Zealand Innovation Awards in Auckland tonight. Rocket Lab, named the Bayer Supreme New Zealand Innovation for 2017, has pioneered a Kiwi space programme, with purpose-built rockets for regular commercial satellite launches. Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck was named most inspiring individual at the NZ Innovation Awards in 2014. To return three years on and receive the biggest honour of the evening is testament to the continued growth and success of Rocket Lab, says New Zealand Innovation Council interim chief executive Craig Cotton. “Rocket Lab plans regular small satellite launches from Mahia Peninsula near Gisborne, opening access to space for many companies around the world. “The Electron launch vehicle utilises 3D printing and ground-breaking technology to deliver satellites into orbit with high frequency. “Rocket Lab can disrupt this small satellite market that can offers crop monitoring, natural disaster prediction, improved weather and maritime reporting, and search and rescue services from space.” More than 700 people passionate about innovation attended the awards in Auckland tonight to celebrate the country’s most innovative organisations and individuals across all industries and specialties. The 22 winners and 14 highly-commended awards were across 12 industry categories and eight business disciplines. “Each year we convene these awards to help recognise and celebrate the amazing stories of innovation, impact, and success from all over Aotearoa. We also aim for the awards to help join the dots within the innovation ecosystem to stimulate further connection, collaboration and creation of opportunities for our entrants, finalists and winners,” Cotton says. Bayer New Zealand managing director Derek Bartlett congratulated all the winners. “We’re incredibly proud to be supporting Kiwi innovation through the awards for the seventh year. The future of New Zealand industries is in good hands with organisations like these leading their respective fields.” For further information contact NZ Innovation Council’s Craig Cotton on 021 714318 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  October 19,  2017   |||

New Zealand's top 200 technology companies now have combined revenues of more than $10 billion - and export receipts of $7.3 billion making the sector our third biggest earner of overseas income writes Tim Murphy for Newsroom.

A report prepared by the Technology Investment Network (TIN) released Tuesday night found the technology, high-tech manufacturing and biotechnology sectors now contribute about 10 percent of all New Zealand exports. The 8.5 percent increase in export revenues in the year came despite currency challenges resulting from a higher Kiwi dollar against all major trading nations.

The top two businesses, Datacom Group and Fisher & Paykel Appliances are billion dollar companies by revenue, with Datacom edging its rival to take top rank this year with $1.15 billion in revenue.

The rest of the top 10 are Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Xero Gallagher Group, Orion Health, Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Tait Communications, NDA Group, Temperzone Group and Magic Memories.

Datacom had the largest revenue growth, at $103 million this year ahead of Magic Memories at $89 m and Xero at $88 m, the report said.

| A Newsroom release  ||  October 18, 2017   |||

A high-tech tent hospital has improved New Zealand’s ability to save lives and give emergency health care when disasters strike at home or in the wider South-West Pacific region.

The new portable medical facility has helped the New Zealand Medical Assistance Team (NZMAT) earn World Health Organization classification as a Type 1 Mobile and Fixed Outpatients Emergency Medical Team, becoming the 13th team worldwide to achieve the standard.

“We’re thrilled to gain WHO classification because it means our team meets international standards and we’re self-sufficient to provide emergency health care for at least 100 patients per day for 14 days, whether in this country or to support our Pacific neighbours,” says Ministry of Health emergency management director Charles Blanch.

See interactive 3D walkthough

“It’s vital we are able to increase our capability for disaster responsiveness for our region because we know early treatment in disasters saves lives.”

Last month, WHO representatives visited New Zealand to put the team through its paces, making sure it could safely and efficiently deploy to a disaster zone within 72 hours.

NZMAT’s new emergency tent features a series of interconnecting sections for triage, maternity, resuscitation, a 10-stretcher observation ward, and a pharmacy. There’s also storage, and an administrative command and control area. It carries sufficient equipment and medical supplies to treat 1400 people in two weeks, including making its own drinking water from raw or salt water.

Blanch says it can be swiftly erected in 90 minutes and arranged in different configurations depending on the space available and needs. It is easy to transport and gives great flexibility for the team to respond to different emergencies in remote locations.

“The tent hospital is essentially a mobile outpatients clinic and means the team can offer triage, first aid, stabilisation, referral of severe trauma, non-trauma emergencies, and care for minor trauma injuries.”

The World Health Organization has praised the Ministry of Health and the New Zealand Government for meeting its international standards.

“We congratulate the New Zealand Medical Assistance Team on its achievements and thank them for their commitment to this quality assurance process and their future assistance to those in need after disasters and emergencies,” its verification team told the Ministry.

BackgroundNZMAT is a civilian-based emergency medical team that can be deployed to support local health services in a major emergency or disaster in New Zealand or the South-West Pacific. The team includes doctors, nurses, paramedics, allied health and non-medical members, such as logisticians and emergency managers.

It has been developed over the last 6 years following the Samoan 2009 tsunami, and to date, has deployed to the Solomon Islands, Philippines, Vanuatu and Fiji.

NZMAT involves a partnership between the Ministry, Counties Manukau District Health Board, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and about 150 trained staff from across the health sector.

A four-day training course for new NZMAT members next month will include using part of the new tent hospital.

| A Ministry of Health release  ||  October 16,  2017   |||

New Zealanders are buying into the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) as it is creeps into many walks of everyday life, an AI specialist says. New Zealand needs to actively embrace artificial intelligence at a faster rate as an extraordinary opportunity and challenge for New Zealand’s future, Artificial Intelligence Forum of New Zealand (AIFNZ) executive director Ben Reid says. AI has a growing impact on the daily lives of all New Zealanders. Its potential impacts are profound. In the near future, it is likely to accelerate – at an unprecedented pace – resulting in major changes to our economy, society, and institutions, Reid says. Key issues relating to accelerating AI developments across the country will be discussed at the AIFNZ event in Wellington tomorrow. Precision Driven Health (PDH) is one organisation spearheading AI changes across NZ in the health sector. PDH is a seven-year $38million academic research group aimed at improving health outcomes through data science and is a finalist at the NZ Innovation Awards to be announced in Auckland on Thursday night. “Globally, hospitals have been slow to adopt robotics and artificial intelligence into patient care, although both have been widely used and tested in other industries. Internationally, surgeons are already using intelligent robots in the operating theatre to assist with surgery,” Reid says. Reid says that in the business world, examples include the Xtracta App uses machine learning to read documents such as invoices, receipts and sales orders to insert data directly into accounting software. “Soul Machines latest project with Air New Zealand is another great example of the potential of AI or digital humans in customer service,” Reid says. “Soul Machine’s robot, Sophie, the digital human, has advanced emotional intelligence and responsiveness and can answer questions about New Zealand as a tourist destination and the airline’s products and services. Soul Machines is creating some of the world’s first emotionally responsive and interactive digital humans. “Another cool AI advance for the environment is artificial intelligence software based upon Google’s TensorFlow framework that has been trained to recognise the different calls of threatened native birds. “In banking, many banks are planning to use chatbots to provide robo-advisor to customers. In transport, New Zealand firm HMI Technologies’ self-driving buses are being trialled in Christchurch. Ohmio Automation, a subsidiary of HMI Technologies, will soon start manufacturing self-driving electric shuttles from New Zealand which use artificial intelligence to navigate. “The shuttles may not be used on city roads for many years but would be for more controlled environments like retirement villages, airports, or the campus of a business or educational facility. “However, corporate New Zealand and government have yet to engage significantly and start building in-house capability to develop AI tech. Boards and senior management teams are still needing to get to grips with the major impacts that AI presents as part of their organisation's strategy. “The use of AI technologies could lead to greater productivity, enhanced social good and the creation of new fields of work. But AI also presents risks. These could include greater inequality and unemployment from disrupted industries and professions. “We have a duty to seek a deeper understanding of New Zealand’s potential as an AI-assisted economy and society, to ensure AI is a positive part of New Zealand’s future. The AI Forum brings together business, academia and the government connecting, promoting and advancing the AI ecosystem to help ensure a thriving New Zealand underpinned by technology.” For further information contact AIFNZ executive director Ben Reid on 027 3446808 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188

| A AIFNZ | MakeLemonade release  ||  October 17,  2017   |||