Will Smartphones Control the Internet of Things?

It’s always really interesting to see what new ideas people are coming up with for how we will interact with and control the Internet of Things.  Recently, MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group made an interesting push into this field after they with a new app called “Reality Editor” (what a name) that runs on their Open Hybrid augmented reality platform.  The platform is the really interesting thing here, however, as the purpose of the app seems to be just to showcase that.  The basic idea behind it is to offer an easy-to-use augmented reality interface in which you can connect the functionalities of different real-world objects that have special QR-like codes on them.  All objects built for the platform will be able to interface in some way with all other objects built for it as well.  The really neat thing is to actually see the app in action connecting various things like switches, lights, chairs, and even remapping the functionality of a car.  Check it out here: 

As you can see the app offers a very intuitive user interface that lets the user drag from one object to the other as if they were physically connecting them via some sort of wire.  Obviously it only works for physical things built around the Open Hybrid platform, but the level of functionality it seems to provide is still really impressive.  On top of that, the idea of being able to control all of these things from the comfort of you smart phone and actually see the connections and interfaces in augmented reality is a great idea.  As of right now companies and groups are still competing to see which platforms become the standard for how devices within the Internet of Things will communicate and connect with each other.  For example, while it’s not going with the augmented reality route, Google has its Weave platform that it released earlier this year.  Weave is basically a communications platform that gives a standard “language” for internet-connected devices to use in order to interface with each other.  Open Hybrid seems to be more targeted at being able to personalize how devices around you are connected, while Weave is more-so aiming to be the standard language of communication for these devices, so the two ideas don’t even necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. 

The one thing these technologies share for sure, however, is the focus on the smartphone being at the center of it all.  Weave, just like Reality Editor, is designed so that the user will be able to control all of the connected devices via their smartphone in some way.  It seems like this trend will continue as smart phones would certainly be ideal control hub because pretty much everyone already has one.  The technology is already there; we just need to decide on a standard platform for communication that is intuitive for users and also easy for developers and manufacturers to build software and devices around.