We tend to think of robots disrupting the world of work by looking like us. In fact it’s rarely the case. The combination of sensors and IoT are going to have a far-reaching impact in our workplaces and will happen much faster than The Terminator.
Thus, it’s interesting to note the news today that Australian startup Lighthouse.io has closed AUS$1.25 million in a seed funding led by Tamarisc, an early stage venture capital firm that invests in real estate technology companies. Joining Tamarisc in the round are Morningside Technology Ventures, an investor in healthcare, real estate and technology, and Storm Industries Investments.
Here’s how Lighthouse works: companies equip their workers with a mobile app that takes data from sensors like Bluetooth beacons to deliver information about their surroundings based on their exact position. That could translate into many Sci-Fi-like things like seeing atmospheric quality in an areas, but for now it’s about practical information such as task lists, instructions, safety content and alerts. For big facilities like shopping malls, airports, hospitals and stadiums, it means workers become more efficient at checking things which really do need fixing rather than endlessly walking around a building. That of course leads to reduced operational costs.
Above is the heat-map feature that shows where workers are spending their time across different sites. Future features include an If-This-Then-Than (IFTTT) engine that will be able to detect changes from sensors and other web services and then trigger outputs to relevant workers
Patrick Carne, Lighthouse.io CEO says they “see a huge opportunity to disrupt labor based industries that are using extremely inefficient, manual and paper based processes.”
The current round of funding will be used to accelerate product development and growth in the US market.