In the TV drama "The First Half of My Life," the refrigerator in He Han's luxury home is very smart, allowing direct purchase of ingredients through the touch screen on the fridge. Such IoT home appliances have entered ordinary households. Although current IoT products on the market are not yet mature and still somewhat "high-end," unknowingly, from clothing, food, housing, and transportation, IoT has deeply penetrated our lives.



　　Bought an IoT air conditioner, haven't used it in three years



　　Jinan citizen Cheng Cheng is busy renovating recently. As a "post-90s" generation, he has long heard of smart homes and IoT home appliances. Coinciding with the "Double Festival" promotion, he went to the home appliance market and found that so-called IoT home appliances seem not as smart as imagined; operations are slightly cumbersome, functions are somewhat useless, and in terms of cost-effectiveness, they seem inferior to traditional appliances.



　　As early as three years ago, Jinan citizen Ms. Guo purchased an IoT air conditioner. "Using a mobile phone to remotely control the air conditioner felt novel at the time. I spent over 10,000 yuan to buy it but found this function was never used because there is usually someone at home. Also, you need to download an APP, which is more troublesome than using the remote control directly."



　　In a large home appliance store on Quancheng Road in Jinan, most Midea air conditioners on sale have a "wireless" symbol added to their bodies. Among them, the most intelligent floor-standing air conditioner is priced at 16,999 yuan, a new product this year, equipped with a camera. Users can monitor the home situation in real-time via their phones and also use gesture-controlled air supply. Through the auto-check function, if a product malfunctions, data is automatically transmitted back to the backend, and the manufacturer proactively contacts the user for on-site repair. Apart from this smart air conditioner, the WiFi connection of other air conditioners mainly serves remote control and check-up functions.



　　Regarding the price of this air conditioner, Cheng Cheng believes it is not cost-effective. "Nearly 20,000 yuan could buy several appliances. My parents' home just bought a new wall-mounted air conditioner for over 2,000 yuan, and it works well."



　　At the Haier range hood counter, there is only one product that can connect wirelessly. It has a phone-sized screen in the center of the body, through which users can watch cooking videos, chat on WeChat, or listen to the radio via an APP. Compared to other products priced at 4,000-5,000 yuan, this product is priced as high as 9,599 yuan.



　　Similarly, Midea has a water heater with a screen that can connect to WiFi to watch videos and listen to the radio, and can also be remotely controlled. Ordinary water heaters cost only 3,000-4,000 yuan, but this one is priced at nearly 8,000 yuan. Sales personnel frankly said: "The main cost is the screen. Not many people buy the smart version. The water heater itself already achieves constant temperature and live water functions, requiring little control."



　　In the washing machine section, a Casarte dual-drum smart washing machine is priced at 18,999 yuan, with "Smart IoT" prominently written on the label. By setting up the APP and selecting clothing material and special stains, the washing machine automatically matches the washing program.





　　Out-of-town home buyers are the rigid demand for smart homes



　　In this regard, Tian Zhanjun, executive vice president of Shandong Home Appliance Association, said that IoT home appliances have been emerging in the market for three to four years, but the penetration rate is still not high, with market share possibly less than 10%, because people mainly buy appliances for practicality.



　　Regarding the constraints on the development of IoT home appliances, Tian Zhanjun analyzed that IoT home appliances have two communication modes: wired and wireless. Although the former is more mature and stable, many consumers' homes are already renovated, and wired mode requires rewiring, damaging the decoration. Wireless mode may have disconnection issues and communication compatibility problems, with stability not being very good.



　　Along with IoT home appliances, smart homes have also risen, allowing one-click control of home lighting, curtains, background music, door locks, etc., via mobile phones. Yang Yongjie, executive vice president of Shandong Tiancheng Zhihui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., which specializes in smart homes, also admitted that domestic consumers currently know little about the performance of such products, and the ownership rate of smart homes among ordinary families is only about 2%.



　　Yang Yongjie said that smart homes are still hard to find in stores, mainly reaching high-end users through related industries, such as home theater, central air conditioning, and luxury home decoration industries.



　　"Smart home appliances currently have low penetration and relatively high costs. In the future, with large-scale promotion, prices will become more affordable." Tian Zhanjun believes that smart homes and smart home appliances have strong development momentum. "This type of market demand is divided into rigid demand, curiosity, and following the trend." He cited an example: many people have bought sea-view houses in other cities but do not go there often. Appliances left in humid environments for a long time are prone to malfunction, and rooms need ventilation. Remotely turning on appliances and windows via mobile phones saves money and effort compared to making trips every so often. Such users have an urgent need for smart home appliances.





　　Installing sensors in elderly people's mattresses, children can grasp heart rate and respiratory rate



　　Although IoT applications in home appliances are not yet mature, it is undeniable that more and more appliances with WiFi symbols are appearing. Additionally, on the streets and alleys we pass daily, many IoT devices have emerged inadvertently.



　　Shu Minglei, head of the Information Medicine Innovation Team at Shandong Computing Center, gave an example: this year, on roads like Jingshi Road in Jinan, a batch of atmospheric environmental monitoring equipment has been newly installed to monitor various air pollution indices. Previously, environmental index monitoring covered a large area, and it was unknown where specific pollution was. Now, pollution sources can be precisely located. "When we use Amap to check traffic congestion, it is actually the GPS of a large number of mobile terminals converging into its data."



　　With the advent of an aging society, consumer demand for IoT medical devices has significantly increased in recent years. Shu Minglei's team has successfully developed a cloud-based elderly care service system using big data and cloud computing. Through IoT technology, facilities or devices that elderly people come into contact with are connected, collecting and transmitting their living data, remotely monitoring their lives, and building a complete database, creating a new model of home-based elderly care.



　　Fiber optic sensors are installed in mattresses, measuring vibration to obtain the elderly's heart rate and respiratory rate data, and also analyzing sleep duration and depth. The sensors connect to WiFi or 3G/4G signals, transmitting data to remote servers, allowing children to promptly understand their parents' health status via mobile phones or computers. Once the elderly's heart rate or respiratory rate drops, alert messages are sent to children's phones in time. "This effectively prevents situations where elderly living alone pass away at home without their children knowing for a long time," Shu Minglei said. Devices like blood pressure monitors, blood glucose meters, and electrocardiographs, using IoT technology, can transmit health data promptly to children's phones in other places.



　　"Placing IoT terminals in rural areas, when an ECG IoT device detects abnormalities in a patient but local village doctors cannot treat them, data is automatically transmitted to a top-tier hospital, where doctors can conduct remote consultations and send results back to the patient," Shu Minglei said. In recent years, investment in IoT healthcare has been heating up.





　　Connected vehicles confirm accidents, insurance companies don't need to be on site



　　Besides IoT healthcare, connected vehicle technology is also developing rapidly. Zhang Di, a car enthusiast in Jinan, found that in recent years, more and more young friends around him are using connected vehicles. With the popularity of 4G, many high-end cars already have their own connected vehicle modules. In traffic jams, the system automatically selects alternative routes. Vehicle whereabouts, fuel consumption, maintenance reminders, and other information can be viewed on mobile phones. On scorching summer days, Zhang Di uses the mobile app to turn on the car's air conditioning in advance. In the event of an accident, customer service will immediately connect to the in-car phone, ask about the driver's injuries, and if the problem is serious, without needing the location, customer service will immediately notify an ambulance.



　　"I don't mind spending an extra 10,000-20,000 yuan for a high-configuration car. Some connected vehicle products already have quite good functions," Zhang Di said. However, some functions may affect driving safety, such as watching DVDs or using navigation while driving. He hopes that in the future, in-car product operations will be primarily voice-controlled.





　　In traffic management, connected vehicles also play a significant role. Wang Binzhong, CTO of Shandong Saiwei Anxun Information Technology Co., Ltd., introduced that they are currently focusing on intelligent transportation. IoT devices are installed in urban taxis to collect front video, images, and vehicle speed. Previously, road condition technology was limited to marking roads red or green to indicate congestion; now, specific images can be seen. "On highways, IoT also plays a major role. We also push real-time road condition images captured by highway cameras to users via an APP."



　　Connected vehicles better capture user driving behavior. "We are also working on UBI (Usage-Based Insurance) auto insurance, customizing car insurance based on user driving behavior," Wang Binzhong said. The state advocates green travel, and they cooperate with relevant government agencies to provide subsidies to green travel users. Perception of how much users drive is also achieved through connected vehicles.



　　When a traffic accident occurs, through connected vehicle products confirming the vehicle's current location and the accident process, in many cases, insurance companies do not need to rush to the scene; they can clearly understand the situation remotely.



　　The wave of IoT is approaching and seeping into our lives. It can be expected that IoT will eventually shape our future just as the internet has shaped the present.