The cities in which we will live, thanks to their being smart, will have solutions capable of reducing pollution and changing our habits in a sustainable way. Some of these technologies already exist and have been awarded at the Smart City Exhibition, the event currently underway in Bologna
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
The cities we will live in, thanks to their being smart, will have solutions capable of reduce pollution and change our habits in a sustainable way. Some of these technologies already exist and have been awarded at the Smart City Exhibition, the event currently underway in Bologna.
Here the 10 best prototypes for smart cities, from the hard disk that lights the way to the system of bike sharing intelligente, with numerous solutions also designed for home life and for people suffering from disabling diseases.
These are original, sustainable and low-cost solutions and above all already implemented, even if not all of them yet on the market. Here they are below:
Index
TortellinoHPC
Produced by Sertec, is an eco-compatible system that has the task of cooling the computing systems and data-centers through an immersion process. The processors are in fact immersed in a liquid that recovers the heat produced by the internal processors and power supplies, allowing to drastically reduce the total energy consumption. The latter can also be reused for space heating or for the production of electricity. Currently there is a prototype, not yet on the market.
The solar city with domestic robots
Solemic is a robot that allows you to use the sunlight to illuminate spaces and structures. The automaton is able to direct the light beam inside a house but also outside, for example to illuminate public spaces. A smart system, equipped with "optical intelligence" that controls the projection of sunlight. According to its creators, its use could rreduce the carbon footprint of a person by 1 ton per year. Where to install it? On the balcony railing or in the garden but also near monuments, streets and squares. It does not require any power connection because it is self-powered by photovoltaic cells. There is currently a prototype.
Park Smart
Parking, what a problem. But in the cities of the future, finding a place for the car will be child's play thanks to the system that allows you to know, at any time, the availability of free spaces in a specific area of the city. Goodbye useless laps, the driver will be able to go straight to the free parking lot. This is due to the system that uses video from the cameras, transferring information to an app and to the navigator. The system is currently in beta test: the market release is scheduled for January.
administrative synergy
How to do a improve the lighting of cities without polluting? It is enough to self-produce the energy needed by using old objects that are no longer usable. And then old gutters, broken hard drives, printer motors, disused appliances or even the alternator of a car can become the raw material to make a vertical axis wind turbine. This solution, developed by Ellequadro engineering, allows with € 4.500 and two months of time for implementation, to guarantee energy savings and social well-being. At present it has only been used privately to test its construction and functioning.
Arianna
Dedicated to people visually impaired, Arianna is a low-cost and minimally invasive navigation system that allows those with sight or walking problems to increase their autonomy. The system allows users to move guided by their smartphone along predetermined routes, both indoors and outdoors. It can be used in airports, museums, hospitals, shopping centers but also stations, sidewalks, woods, nature and tourist trails. Arianna was developed by the startup In.Sight born as a spin-off of the University of Palermo.
Touch4Movie
Touch4Movie is a smart system for interactive viewing of video content on the most common mobile devices. Just touch the screen at the points of interest (objects, people, places) and the system will provide multimedia information. Very useful for Smart Cities, for example in tourism and in the enhancement of architectural heritage but also in mobility and public transport. It was conceived by ICTinnovaSrL, a startup born as a spin off of the Sapienza University.
HALADIN's
It is a table lamp that monitors air quality and environmental comfort inside buildings. In fact, we know that in closed environments there are numerous harmful substances released by systems, furnishings, paints and cleaning products. HALADIN's acts as a control tool, as it measures the levels of VOC - Volatile Organic Compounds - and Formaldehyde through three colored LEDs, as well as calculating temperature, humidity and brightness: green when the air is clean, yellow for attention levels and red in case of values above the alarm levels.
Sistema mHealth
Designed for intelligent walking guidance in Parkinson's disease, the work it uses external stimuli, sound or vibrotactile, to help patients avoid the onset of gait disturbances. It consists of an app and 3 small wireless sensors, 2 to put on the shoes and one on the trunk. The app connects Bluetooth sensors to the smartphone and, whenever the walking parameters are not correct, a voice message instructs the patient on what to do. Designed by Alberto Ferrari, a young researcher at the University of Bologna.
KNOW
Even bike sharing becomes smart with DOCEO, an integrated sustainable mobility project. Thanks to the app and a rubber bracelet equipped with a sensor, DOCEO bicycles can be identified and used at the collection points. Each bike is equipped with an electronic chain: the chip present in the bracelet interfaces with it, recognizes the user and unlocks the bike. The chain also allows them to be found. To use the service, just register on www.doceo.com, receiving the kit with the bracelet, the map of the city with highlighted points of interest and route cards directly at home.
SRS – Smart Rainfall System
SRS is a new meteorological-hydrological risk monitoring tool, which estimates and locates rainfall in real time to help the Civil Protection. Unlike the systems currently in use, it is based on low-cost market components and uses existing TLC infrastructures (satellite dishes) for data acquisition. It arises from the joint work of the DITEN and DICCA departments of the University of Genoa and the Genoese SME Darts Engineering Srl. Two trials of the system are being launched in the Province of Florence and in the Municipality of Genoa.
Francesca Mancuso
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