On-the-go to on-the-edge

These days we are witnessing a huge directional shift in technology. Once reliant on large, server room computers, now we have a boundless source of computational resources on the Cloud.

With the growing computational power of mobile and small devices all around us, we see the focus turning back to them. This is called On-the-Edge computing. According to Wikipedia, On-the-Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm which brings computation and data storage closer to the location where it is needed. From this we can learn a number of things.

First-off, this definition makes it closer to the so-called distributed AI, where pieces of intelligence may be located in every object around us. For an object to become intelligent or “smart” it first must be capable of processing relevant data and of learning (local machine learning). The growing computational power makes the internet-of-things (IoT) around us a part of a giant AI ecosystem.

Secondly, greater computation power makes smart IoT devices capable of operating independently, without a cloud connection. This is advantageous for a number of reasons, primarily that of safety and security. No connection means no intrusion and no data-hacking. Additionally, it is more effective. Many On-the-Edge devices are battery powered and operate on slim processors, however, cloud connectivity requires further resources. A third consideration is economical, since an internet modem costs money. Last, but certainly not least, is operational flexibility. Our typically dynamic lifestyles require us to operate things around us in any situation – while moving, driving, working while both hands busy, and more, and in any environment – in the office, on a manufacturing floor, at outdoors. We call these situations on-the-go environment. In this environment internet connectivity is not always available.

Thus we approach the next issue – how to effectively operate these smart, AI-infused devices while on-the-go. Introducing cognitive capabilities to everyday objects make it possible to interact with them via speech, in a natural way that is similar to human interaction. This means that we could literally speak to our devices using free conversation, the most natural and effective user interface with which we can control the world around us.

This is what Onvego is all about. We build and bring conversational capabilities to smart On-the-Edge devices in any place, and especially on-the-go. This, however, is not simple, and requires harnessing AI theories and practices. Try, for example, to operate Amazon’s Alexa Cloud-less, On-the-Edge and on small objects. It is simply not built for that.

On-the-Edge is not coming to replace the Cloud, rather the Cloud will be used when applicable to support a new smart IoT ecosystem. Working together they create a Fog.