Bots Towards smart cities
Achieving the vision of a smart city requires the synergy of six factors, writes Edwin Kee
CITIES hAve proven to be hotbeds of innovAtion And educAtion, sometimes effecting chAnge on A globAl scAle. The synergistic quAlity of humAnity brings About trAnsformAtion And betterment of lives everywhere, with technologicAl innovAtions mAking it possible to fully reAlise the possibilities of A smArt city.
At the recent 6th SmArt Cities AsiA 2020 conference, orgAnised by The Knowledge GroupofCompAnies, dynAmicpersonAlities from vArious compAnies And government Agencies, both locAl And AbroAd, cAme together to shAre the lAtest developments, thoughts And ideAs on howmuchcloser we Are in mAking the leAp to smArt cities.
the Six factorS
Amongthetopics discussed include fActors thAt mAke up A smArt city. They Are smArt government, smArt environment, smArt economy, smArt living, smArt mobility And smArt people.
However, it is impossible to Achieve the vision of A smArt city if All these fActors function As silos. There must be cooperAtion Across the boArd with An Altruistic Attitude where no one is left behind.
If there is one thing thAt hAs Affected everyone globAlly this yeAr, it is the coronAvirus pAndemic.
An optimistic worldview will welcome disruptions like this pAndemic, where it hAsAccelerAted the pAceofconnectivity And communicAtions As industries scrAmble to recAlibrAte their models.
NAysAyers to the ideA of working from home hAve All but disAppeAred, where doing so hAs proven to weed out All kinds of inefficiencies.
The educAtion sector hAs Also seen A seismic shift, where both teAchers And students hAve been put on the fAst trAck in remote leArning, with some AdApting better thAn others.
In the process, the shortcomings of poor connectivity And infrAstructure hAve Also been exposed, Allowing the Authorities to rectify the situAtion.
All of the speAkers Agree thAt humAn cApitAl is the most importAnt fActor to work on And invest in. After All, hAving the best infrAstructure will Amount to nothing if the people using it Are not educAted to tAke full AdvAntAge of it.
mobility-aS-a-Service (maaS)
In our public trAnsportAtion system, lAst mile connectivity is often Asore point, which is why the Mobility-As-A-Service (MAAS) ideA is worth exploring.
According to MAlAysiA Automotive, Robotics And IoT Institute’s chief informAtion officer, NizhAr Mohd NAzAr, MAAS is moving AwAy from privAtely-owned modes of trAnsportAtion, looking At mobility provided As A service insteAd.
“This is mAde possible from the merging of trAnsportAtion services into A unified gAtewAy, resulting in efficient trip mAnAgement.
“It is moreefficient AsuserstrAvel bAsed on their needs. We AlreAdy see the eArly implementAtion of this ideA in speciAlist urbAn mobility ApplicAtions, most notAbly, GrAb,” he sAid At the event.
“The best wAyto Address the chAllenges of urbAnisAtion is to put people At the heArt of the renewAl process. WeAimtoworkwith stArtups And scAle-up compAnies which Are Able to deliver And contribute to the industry.”
HegAve An exAmple of howdAtA collected from these compAnies could be shAred with the government.
This mutuAlly beneficiAl pArtnership, he Added, could result in potentiAl reduction of implementAtion costs by up to 20 per cent.
“We Are currently working with MAlAysiAn stArtups to ensure thAt there is no cApitAl outflow. These stArtups Are Able to increAse development speed by up to two And A hAlf times with out-of-the-box concepts using the right tAlent, knowledge And tools to Achieve this synergy,” he Added.
educatioN iS key
UrbAnice MAlAysiA’s chief executive officer, TPr NorlizA HAshim, sAid in plAnning for A smArt city, “people is key”.
She posed poignAnt questions such As, “Why do we implement smArt building solutions on expensive commerciAl buildings? And “Why Are such technologicAl innovAtions not implemented in public housing, where the benefits of A green/smArt building will be Able to improve the life of the lower income group?”
“WeneedtoworktowArdsAgreAtersynergy Among both privAte And government sectors. While mosthigh-endbuildings And properties Are built by privAte developers And investors who Are generAlly profit-driven, hAving synergy between the government And the privAte sector will be A big step in moving towArds An equAl plAying field where no one is left behind.
“For instAnce, one public housing project we were involved in hAd louvres As pArt of the design to help with the Airflow in order to keep the building cool
And thus lower the electricity bills for residents.
“However, we discovered thAt some residents plAced vending mAchines where the louvres were locAted, hence funnelling heAt generAted by these vending mAchines to the rest of the building — which wAs counter-productive.
“Informing the residents thAt these vending mAchines ought to be plAced elsewhere initiAlly fell on deAr eArs. However, whenweeducAted them thAt doing so would help reduce their monthly electricity bill, the mAchines were moved AwAy from the louvres,” she Added.
“We cAn only educAte them (the people) in phAses And trust thAt the little Act we do will mAke A big impAct in the future,” she Added.
UrbAnice MAlAysiA is A centre of excellence for sustAinAble cities And community wellbeing. Its objective is to provide A supportive role in the functions of the Ministry of Housing And LocAl Government through the connecting of stAkeholders And cultivAting publicprivAte collAborAtions.