by Dot Cannon 
Within the next year, your personal technology may very well give you candy, turn off your sprinklers when a storm’s coming, and tell you when the baby’s about to wake up.
And, it’ll probably make certain you never run out of beer.
Those are just a few of the innovations on display in this bigrig truck, supplied by Freescale™ Semiconductor™, Inc., as it makes its rounds on a two-year scheduled national tour. Currently, they’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, for SEMICON West. And wherever they go, their purpose is to give visitors some insights into a connected future.
In June, we had the opportunity to catch up with the Internet of Tomorrow truck, as it made the sixty-third stop of its tour: the SENSORS conference, in Long Beach.
At that point, the Internet of Tomorrow truck had traveled 28,653 miles and welcomed more than 20,000 visitors since it started its journey on October 1, 2014. “We’ve gone over our initial goals, and we’re trying to get to 75 (stops) by October 1 of this year,” said Freescale Global Marketing Manager Scott Hughes.
Our visit revealed some intriguing new technologies, for the Internet of Things (IoT), that ranged from potentially lifesaving to convenient…
…and occasionally, playful.
“One of our newest demos is a beer coupler that goes on top of a beer keg,” said Freescale ™ Global Marketing Communications Manager Lisa Bradley. 
“The idea is that, through the detection of pressure in the beer keg, we can determine (how much beer is left). So, beer lovers, rejoice, you will never run out of your favorite beer again.”
Lisa added that beyond the “fun” element of the technology, was a commercial use: beer purveyors, in pubs, can determine their supply, so they keep a continuous supply of their product.
Next, Lisa pointed out the Freescale™ TPMS: a new automotive safety technology introduced this April.
“(This module) can actually gauge the pressure on all (this truck’s) eighteen-wheeler tires,” she explained. “This is a real-time way to monitor and keep the truck driving industry safe.” She added that the module tracks a truck fleet’s consumption of fuel, as well, and reports the details back, wirelessly, to a main control system.
During a tour of the Internet of Tomorrow truck, Freescale™ Technology Strategy Manager Iain Galloway also highlighted demos for the connected home.
This energy curb can determine if one room of your house is using more energy than the rest. “(That way), you’ll know if you left the lights on in one of your rooms,” Iain said.
On the opposite wall was a predictive weather landscape irrigation monitor. It has a built-in barometer and can turn off your sprinklers if it’s going to rain!
This award-winning wearable baby monitor sends alerts to a parent’s cell phone if a newborn rolls over on her stomach (a SIDS danger), as well as telling the parent if the baby is asleep, or is fussing more than usual.
There was even personal technology for man’s best friend.
“This dog monitor tells me if my dog is tearing things up in the house, if he maybe needs an extra forty-five minutes’ walk,” Iain explained. “(It) will let me know how his health is, as well.”
But this, perhaps, was the most exciting area of the exhibit: the part we’ll be seeing in the future.
“Many of the items on display are for makers,” Iain said, displaying this general use processor from one of Freescale’s student learning kits.
He also showed us the Teensy 3.1–which sells for under $20!
“The Internet of Tomorrow is having so many Kickstarters join in,” Lisa said, “and for many of them, they haven’t utilized sensors before. So what we’re doing is trying to provide this (open-source sensor fusion software) to anyone out there, who is perhaps new to sensors, so they can quickly prototype their design and get it to market.”
(Are you currently working on a “connected” project? Here’s a link to Freescale™’s free on-demand training library!)