Cyber-concrete lets walls speak
Sumitomo Osaka Cement and YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory have developed cyber-concrete, a smart form of concrete embedded with RFID tags that can store data. Researchers developed a durable coating for YRP’s “ucode” tags, which have a larger storage capacity than ordinary IC tags, and they developed a special reader that, when held near the concrete, retrieves the stored data and converts it into spoken form.
Sumitomo is set to begin field testing the technology at its cement factories this month, with the aim of making it available to large construction companies in the spring of 2007.
While the potential applications of cyber-concrete are endless, the companies are initially promoting it as a new tool for managing structural safety data. Cyber-concrete can store information about itself, such as when, where and how it was manufactured and data about strength and quality, making for more efficient and reliable safety inspection systems. This traceability data can be used by construction companies, inspectors, or tenants concerned about building safety.
Public concern for structural safety has risen with a recent building safety inspection scandal involving the discovery of falsified quake-resistance data for a number of buildings in Tokyo and the surrounding areas. Perhaps cyber-concrete will bring a little peace of mind, allowing people to bypass the shady inspectors and ask buildings directly how safe they are — which is great as long as buildings have no reason to be dishonest.
And should you find yourself trapped under three floors of cyber-concrete after the Big One, at least you’ll have something to talk to while waiting for the rescue bots to arrive.
[Sources: Fuji Sankei, Nikkei Net]
[…] -Sumitomo has developed walls that talk. […]
[…] 7 - Cyber-concrete lets walls speak “Cyber-concrete can store information about itself, such as when, where and how it was manufactured and data about strength and quality, making for more efficient and reliable safety inspection systems.” (tags: safety technology arphid RFID embedded material construction concrete cyberconcrete) […]
[…] El dicho “Es como estar hablandole a una pared”, puede ser que no sea tan irreal, ya que ahora pude ser posible. La empresa Japonesa Sumitomo Osaka Cement en conjunto con YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory han desarrollado un CyberConcreto. Este concreto esta básado en tecnología de identificación por ondas de radio (RFID). El concreto trae consigo etiquetas RFID, las que al ser leídas por un lector diseñado específicamente para la tarea, traduce la información contenida en ellas en forma de voz. Que fin tiene todo esto? la idea central es proporcionar datos para la seguridad estructural, de esta forma por ejemplo los equipos de inspección pueden “preguntar” al concreto cuando fue hecho, su capacidad de resistencia, y su calidad. Fuente: Pinktentacle Tags Blogalaxia: Tecnología, RFID, Seguridad Comparte este artículo:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
[…] Technology makes for strange bedfellows: that’s the lesson to be learnt from the partnership of YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory with the Sumitomo Osaka Cement company. The two groups have developed what they call “cyber-concrete,” which is basically a lumpy soup of regular cement and RFID tags with durable coatings. The tags hold basic information about when, where, and how each part of the concrete was manufactured, allowing safety inspection teams and concerned residents alike to check how stable their building is. To aid this process, the researchers have developed a special reader that can convert this information into speech when placed on a correctly tagged wall — so much for “the walls have ears,” now they eat pollution, display images, and speak. Sumitomo is to start testing the RFID concrete soup this month, and is aiming to make it available to large construction companies in the spring of 2007. What with a recent scandal rocking the Japanese construction scene, it sounds as if this clever concrete can’t come soon enough. Just as long as it’s not too clever — lets just say that we know we’re bad at darts, and that we don’t need no screaming walls to tell us. […]
[…] Technology makes for strange bedfellows: that’s the lesson to be learnt from the partnership of YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory with the Sumitomo Osaka Cement company. The two groups have developed what they call “cyber-concrete,” which is basically a lumpy soup of regular cement and RFID tags with durable coatings. The tags hold basic information about when, where, and how each part of the concrete was manufactured, allowing safety inspection teams and concerned residents alike to check how stable their building is. To aid this process, the researchers have developed a special reader that can convert this information into speech when placed on a correctly tagged wall — so much for “the walls have ears,” now they eat pollution, display images, and speak. Sumitomo is to start testing the RFID concrete soup this month, and is aiming to make it available to large construction companies in the spring of 2007. What with a recent scandal rocking the Japanese construction scene, it sounds as if this clever concrete can’t come soon enough. Just as long as it’s not too clever — lets just say that we know we’re bad at darts, and that we don’t need no screaming walls to tell us. […]
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I heard of RFID from our Operations class professor. This new technology makes tracking supplies faster. RFID is very useful in Inventory Management. I heard this is also used in tracking soldiers who are sent to war.