IoT (Internet of Things) is a mechanism that gives everyday things a communication function, connects them to a network, and puts the data they collect to use.
Sensors on the thing measure its state
The communication function sends data to a server
The server analyzes the data
The results feed monitoring and control
The results support monitoring from a distance, and when control is also needed, instructions go back to the device to make it move.
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IoT devices read their state with sensors and similar parts that measure things like temperature and location, and send the data to a server through their communication function. Devices that also handle control carry a drive part, an actuator, that turns received instructions into motion. The collected data is analyzed on the server side and used for remote monitoring and automatic control of the devices.
AnalogyThe network used to be where people got in touch with each other; now a house's windows and a field's soil have joined in, reporting on their own, "Here is how I am right now."
How to rememberLet the T for Things remind you that the internet's participants widened from people to objects.
Exam points
ExamAn IoT case can be recognized when sensors or similar parts on a device send data without human operation and that data is used for monitoring or control.
ExamEnergy harvesting (エネルギーハーベスティング) is a technology that converts the small amounts of energy in surrounding light, vibration, temperature differences and the like into electric power, and it is also used to power IoT devices.
ExamBattery capacity in mAh expresses current (mA) multiplied by time (h). For example, 300mAh means roughly 1 hour of discharge at 300mA, or about 2 hours at 150mA.
An embedded system (組込みシステム) is a dedicated computer system built into a device so that it does only its fixed job.
Embedded system
General-purpose computer (a PC, etc.)
Purpose
Handles only that device's fixed operations
Users put it to many different uses
Makeup
Parts and software chosen to fit the device
Apps added on top of common parts and an OS
Example
Washing machine operation control, elevator stop-position control
A PC used for writing documents and spreadsheets
An embedded system repeats fixed processing with parts and software chosen to fit its device. At its center is a microcomputer, which packs the circuits for computation, memory and input/output into one small unit.
AnalogyLess a chef who can cook anything, more the person minding a bread machine who bakes the same loaf the same way every day.
How to rememberEmbedded means set deep inside: picture a computer buried in the device where no one can see it from outside.
Exam points
ExamAn embedded system (組込みシステム) realizes many of its functions in software, so when a product is improved, changing the software can add functions up to a point.
ExamSmall computers that take charge of control inside devices are collectively called microcomputers (マイクロコンピュータ, or マイコン for short).
ExamWhether something is an embedded system (組込みシステム) depends not on the type of product but on whether the device has a dedicated control computer inside, so many electronic devices qualify.
Firmware (ファームウェア) is software written into a device's internal memory that serves as the foundation, directly driving the hardware parts.
A defect or room for improvement is found
The maker releases a new version
The device's internal memory is rewritten
After a restart, the fixes and new features work
The parts stay the same; only the way the device behaves is new.
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It is the first thing to start when the power comes on, and it controls parts such as buttons, motors and displays. Software running in an embedded system is called embedded software, and firmware is the part of it that handles the groundwork of controlling those parts. It usually sits in rewritable flash memory, so it can later be updated to fix defects or add functions.
AnalogyThink of it as a set of operating instructions written inside an appliance: you never see it, but swap in new instructions and the same machine behaves differently.
How to rememberFirm sits between hard and soft: firmware is software on the harder end, between hardware and software.
Exam points
ExamEmbedded software (組込みソフトウェア) is software built into a dedicated device that controls the fixed operations that device is responsible for.
A cloud service (クラウドサービス) lets users rent only as much as they need of the IT resources, such as servers and software, that a provider offers over the internet.
Example categories of cloud services
SaaS: renting the software itself
PaaS: renting a development and runtime environment
IaaS: renting the server and network infrastructure
In IoT, it is often where the large volumes of data arriving from many devices are stored and analyzed. Users do not have to own the equipment, and they usually pay according to how much they use.
AnalogyLike paying the power company for the electricity you use instead of keeping a generator at home, the owner of the equipment and the person using it are different.
How to rememberThe name comes from the habit of drawing the internet as a cloud in network diagrams.
Exam points
Mix-upA cloud service (クラウドサービス) is a mechanism on the side that rents out IT resources, while IoT is a mechanism on the side where things generate and send data. Even when IoT data is kept in the cloud, the two are not the same thing.
IoT vs. Cloud service
Aspect
IoT
Cloud service
Key differenceWhich side it centers on
The things that generate and send data
The provider that rents out IT resources
Main work
Measuring, sending and controlling devices
Storing and processing data, providing software
How they relate
Often sends the collected data to the cloud
Also widely used for business systems other than IoT
Robotics (ロボティクス) is the technical field that brings together the research and technology for designing robots, building them and making them move as intended.
It combines knowledge from several fields, such as mechanical structure, electronic circuits and control software. Its core is building the whole chain from grasping the surroundings with sensors and deciding how to move to driving the body with actuators.
AnalogyIt is to robots what culinary science is to food: it refers not to each dish but to the body of methods for making them.
How to rememberRobot plus -ics, the ending for a field of study, as in physics and electronics.
A robot (ロボット) is a machine that grasps its surroundings with sensors, decides with an internal computer, and moves on its own using motors and similar parts.
Sense: measure the surroundings with sensors
Decide: the computer chooses the movement
Act: drive parts move the body
Motors and other drive parts move, and the sensors check the result again.
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Besides industrial robots that assemble parts in factories, there are robots that clean floors at home and robots that talk with people, so their uses are wide. Their movements are controlled by the embedded system inside the machine.
How to rememberThe word was born in a play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek and comes from the Czech robota, meaning labor.
Robotics vs. Robot
Aspect
Robotics
Robot
Key differenceWhat it refers to
A technical field or area of research
An actual machine that moves
Example
Research on how to walk and how to grasp objects
Industrial robots, cleaning robots
Key points
IoT is a mechanism that sends data gathered by sensors and similar parts on things over a network and uses it for analysis and control.
An embedded system is specialized for each device, and when a product is improved, rewriting the software can sometimes add functions.
Firmware sits in a device's internal memory and is the foundational software that controls its parts directly.
A robot works by repeating three functions: sensing, deciding and acting.