![\"IMG_2876\"](\"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/IMG_2876.jpg\")
<\/a>Lightbulbs have\u00a0great established infrastructure.\u00a0Each\u00a0receptacle is\u00a0wired for power. Bulbs have standard\u00a0screw bases for simple bulb installation.<\/p>\nLight bulbs are everywhere. The\u00a0average American home has about\u00a040 receptacles for\u00a0light bulbs. By various estimates\u00a0there are between 2 billion and 4 billion light bulbs installed in the U.S. That number represents\u00a0an eighth of the world market.<\/p>\n
Traditional incandescent bulbs\u00a0have a simple function. They glow when they are supplied with power. Manufacturers\u00a0of LED bulbs are already adding functionality<\/a>, mostly copying or extending what traditional bulbs do. There are LED bulbs that can dim, ones\u00a0that can change color, and so on. They can be controlled from a phone or computer via WIFI.<\/p>\n “Smart bulbs” cost more, but they save energy and last longer. A typical LED bulb used three hours per day should last 20 years or more. This long expected product life changes\u00a0our\u00a0perception of a bulb from a short-lived\u00a0disposable to a pricier but long-lived appliance.<\/p>\n What could be incorporated in\u00a0a light bulb?<\/p>\n How could that work if the power to the bulb is off? Suppose that power to a bulb is generally left\u00a0on but\u00a0the bulb\u00a0has a smart circuit that turns the glow on or off. A bulb could glow depending on any number of factors including darkness, detected motion, time of day, sound and commands sent via\u00a0the WIFI.<\/p>\n Bulbs could have batteries so that they can still perform\u00a0some actions when their power is off for an extended time, such as emergency lighting or communicating a message through a\u00a0WIFI. They could trickle charge the battery and run computations without glowing.<\/p>\n Staying close to conventional bulb functionality, lights could\u00a0adjust brightness according to need. Just say “More light” if you want more brightness and “Lights out” if you want darkness, and so on.<\/p>\n How else can\u00a0we go beyond familiar lighting functions?<\/p>\n So, what is the right operating system for a light bulb? That answer will change with time, but these examples of applications suggest that there is\u00a0value\u00a0in\u00a0supporting multi-processing\u00a0and other familiar capabilities for embedded systems. Viewed this way, light bulb systems\u00a0should\u00a0be developed\u00a0as a standard\u00a0part of a system of systems.<\/p>\n What other\u00a0IOT devices would be useful in light bulb sockets?<\/p>\n Thanks to Eric Bier, Danny Bobrow, Kyle Dent, Raj Minhas, Ashwin Ram, Frank Torres, Michael Youngblood, and Ed Wu for earlier conversations on this. Thanks to Barbara Stefik for providing pictures while I was spending time\u00a0at the airport writing this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The typical news today about LED bulbs is about their rapid adoption, their dropping prices, and supporting legislation. A more interesting story is about exploiting the IOT (Internet of Things) infrastructure that surrounds them. Lightbulbs have\u00a0great established infrastructure.\u00a0Each\u00a0receptacle is\u00a0wired for …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creativity-2","category-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2158"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3526,"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions\/3526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markstefik.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
<\/a>You could even give simple commands through\u00a0a light switch. Flick\u00a0the switch twice to turn the glow on. Flick\u00a0it once to turn glow\u00a0off. Flick\u00a0it three times to go to a brightness adjusting mode where each additional flick\u00a0brightens the glow\u00a0a little.<\/p>\n\n