UK water utility implements advanced metering infrastructure

water meters UK

UK water utility Essex & Suffolk Water is working with digital technology provider Connexin to implement an Internet of Things (IoT) advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to manage the rollout of smart water meters. The agreement will see meters deployed across the Essex and Suffolk regions and it marks the third major smart water meter win for Connexin after Yorkshire Water and Severn Trent Water. Meter-as-a-service solution Connexin claims the IoT metering award is the largest of its kind in the UK water utility sector. The delivery of an end-to-end meter-as-a-service…

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SmartCow launches edge AI camera for smart city applications

Sphinx Ruggedized AI camera with 5G connectivity and real-time analytics

AI engineering company SmartCow has announced the launch of Sphinx, an edge AI camera with 5G connectivity, aimed at smart city and smart traffic deployments. Sphinx is a self-contained, ruggedised AI camera featuring dual image sensors that deliver low-light performance and built-in infrared (IR) illumination. According to SmartCow, the camera offers a reliable solution for AI applications, including automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), public safety, and intelligent traffic management systems (ITMS). Challenging environments Its open modular connector enables operators to enhance their capabilities by integrating external sensors, such as air-quality…

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UK council partners for robot grocery delivery service

Robots Wakefield Co-op Starship Technologies

UK supermarket group the Co-op has announced it is extending its autonomous robot delivery service to Wakefield, offering deliveries to 13,000 residents in the west Yorkshire town. Wakefield Council has partnered with the Co-op and Starship Technologies to offer the service to Outwood’s residents. Food delivery app Residents in some 6,500 households can place orders through the Starship food delivery app, which will be picked fresh from the local Co-op store on Meadow Vale, Outwood, and delivered in minutes. The launch of the service in Wakefield continues the expansion of…

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Rubicon rolls out smart waste services to more US cities

smart waste US

Smart waste company Rubicon reports it has added 11 more US cities to a list of municipalities using its technology to help run core city operations, with a focus on solid waste collection. This adoption is led by new city customers including Rochester, New York; Surprise, Arizona; High Point, North Caroline; Newton, Massachusetts; Rockville, Maryland; Galveston, Texas; Cleveland Heights, Ohio; Dubuque, Iowa; North Platte, Nebraska; and Winchester, Virginia. Waste collection operations According to Rubicon, these cities run essential waste collection operations servicing nearly one million people combined across the core…

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Autonomous street sweeper launched in Shenzhen

Taoping autonomous street sweeper

A next generation autonomous street sweeper and modular smart rest station have been unveiled in Shenzhen’s highly popular Xiangmi Park. The southeastern China city’s “Citizen Park” or Xiangmi Park is one of China’s more famous and scenic spots and serves as a popular site ranging from online influencers and people taking a stroll to children and elderly exercising. Costly daily cleaning Shenzhen reports the high volume of daily visitors enjoying the 424,000 square metre park also creates a considerable amount of waste, which is time consuming and costly to clean.…

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Soofa enhances hyperlocal content with Facebook widget

Soofa Brings Facebook to the Sidewalk

Soofa, a provider of solar-powered street-level furniture used for outdoor advertising and smart city communication, has introduced a feature allowing city landowners to display Facebook updates to passersby. According to Soofa, as many cities and municipalities use Facebook to communicate with constituents in their community, the ability to share current Facebook updates at eye-level to passersby in the right-of-way adds another level of connectivity with community members. Hyperlocal content It also reinforces the power of hyperlocal content that attracts people to the signs’ 42-inch electronic ink displays, Soofa claims, making…

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Wave energy conversion unit arrives at Port of Los Angeles

Eco Wave Power

Eco Wave Power’s wave energy conversion unit has arrived for installation as a pilot station at the AltaSea innovation campus at the Port of Los Angeles. It was formerly located in Gibraltar and is the first US siting of the company’s technology. It is already deployed in Israel and there are further plans for deployments in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and other locations, as part of the company’s current 404.7 MW project pipeline. Onshore wave technology Eco Wave Power entered a collaboration agreement with AltaSea in early 2022 and announced plans…

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Blickfeld unveils smart 3D LiDAR Qb2 device

Blickfeld smart 3D LiDAR Qb2 device

Blickfeld, the Munich-based manufacturer of LiDAR sensor solutions creating hardware and software, is launching the delivery of its Qb2 device to customers and partners, following its concept announcement at CES 2022. Qb2 is based on Blickfeld’s proprietary solid-state software-defined LiDAR technology, enables the capturing and processing of data on a single device, removing the need for additional computers and bringing faster insights, improved response times and better bandwidth availability via edge computing. Companies benefit from high efficiency gains through enriched, actionable real-time 3D data for example in the areas of…

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Semtech, Exeger demonstrate solar harvesting technology for IoT sensors

Powerfoyle Hexagon LensFlare

Semtech Corporation , a global supplier of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms, announces its collaboration with Exeger, a Swedish deep-tech company manufacturing fully customisable solar cells. Combining Semtech’s LoRa Edge asset management platform with Exeger’s Powerfoyle solar cell technology significantly extends the battery life of asset tracking and environmental sensing devices. Semtech’s LoRa Edge scans GNSS satellites as well as Wi-Fi SSIDs and partitions the processing between IoT devices and the LoRa Cloud to determine location. The Cloud-based solver significantly reduces power consumption and increases battery…

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Lidar companies team for drone-based mapping and analytics

Lidar mapping and analytics

Silicon Valley-based lidar solutions company Cepton is working with LidarSwiss Solutions to deploy its technology in a drone-based mapping and analytics solution for infrastructure management and engineering design applications. LidarSwiss is a provider of high-performance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based lidar solutions, based in Switzerland. Utilising Cepton’s Sora lidar sensor, its Nano P60 system provides high-fidelity mapping and real-time processing on the fly to serve engineers, forestry managers and urban planners across the globe. Sensor and camera systems To date, Nano P60 has been used to map and analyse powerlines,…

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Mass-produced robo roadsweepers to be tested in Guangzhou

self-driving Robosweeper WeRide

A fleet of more than 50 mass-produced autonomous roadsweeper vehicles will be deployed for testing in Nansha District in the Chinese city of Guangzhou in May this year. Robosweeper has been designed and produced for city-level environmental services under a strategic collaboration between level 4 (L4) autonomous driving specialist WeRide and vehicle manufacturer Yutong Group. Purpose-built design The purpose-built vehicle features a cockpit-free design without a steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedals. It is WeRide’s second product for mass production and purpose-built self-driving vehicles, after the launch of the Mini…

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StrongArm Raises $50M for Industrial Safety Wearables

StrongArm Technologies FUSE FLEX Safety Wearable

StrongArm Technologies has raised $50 million to deliver wearable devices that protect industrialworkers. The funding round, led by Drive Capital, is the company’s second investment within the past year and is the biggest investment on record for an industrial safety wearables company. StrongArm says the funds raised will help grow its team and expand its services in several areas of the company from introducing its SafeWork System to empowering its customers, by providing real-time feedback to inform safety, proper training and productivity across the workforce. “In five years, it will…

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Seoul Digital Foundation launches metaverse office

Seoul metaverse office

Seoul has opened a metaverse office in its virtual reality public space, Gather Town. According to Seoul Digital Foundation (SDF), the ‘office’ will be used when holding advisory conferences with lecturers or experts and for internal meetings with employees working from home. Fourth industrial revolution The SDF aims to apply key technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, like metaverse and artificial intelligence (AI), to administrative tasks. With a view to helping the South Korean capital improve competitiveness as a global smart city, the foundation plans to use metaverse in its…

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PKvitality announces clinical trial for K’Watch Glucose

K’Watch Glucose

PKvitality, a French company specialised in Health and Sport bio-wearables announced the start of a clinical study to determine the accuracy of the K’Watch Glucose. The trial is conducted with the AMCR Institute Inc, a clinical research centre focused on diabetes and obesity with worldwide renown medical device expertise in the metabolic area. Based on a SkinTaste technology, the K’Watch Glucose will be the wearable smartwatch medical device that measures and displays glucose level continuously, effortlessly, and painlessly. This major milestone is partly financed thanks to grant and equity investment…

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Trials begin of distress-triggered smartwatch safety app developed by University of Bath team

Epowar app watch

Trials begin this week in Bath, UK of a new smartwatch app that monitors a wearer’s heart rate and body motion to sense distress, in order to automatically send an emergency alert when needed. The Epowar app, aimed primarily at women’s safety, eliminates the major issue with rape alarms and other conventional safety products that need to be physically activated. Activation is often not an option in the event of an attack. The innovative smartwatch app solves this problem, using artificial intelligence (AI) to instantly recognise distress in a user’s…

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