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When Computer Vision Becomes the Ultimate IoT Sensor

Plus our top IoT stories of the week!

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IoT For All
September 04, 2025

Hello readers,

Welcome to the IoT For All newsletter! This week we’re talking about video streams may be the ultimate IoT sensor, ambient AI with wearables and IoT, news from around the web, and more!

One Camera to Rule Them All

For decades, IoT-enabled robots have been built around the idea that more sensors mean better control. Joint encoders, force sensors, motion-capture rigs, RFID tags, every joint or movement was tracked by a dedicated device. But a new study from MIT suggests a different path: computer vision, paired with deep learning, may be able to handle many of these sensing roles using nothing more than a camera feed.

In a study published to Nature, the MIT team introduces what they call a “visuomotor Jacobian field,” essentially teaching a neural network to watch a robot and learn how its body moves in response to commands. Once trained, the system can control a robot in real time using only a single camera stream. In this setup, vision itself becomes the IoT sensor, inferring geometry, kinematics, and control inputs without the need for encoders or external rigs.

This approach could reduce hardware dependency by enabling low-cost robots, even those without precision sensors, to achieve precise control. It also simplifies data flows: a single video feed replaces multiple specialized telemetry streams. And it makes automation more scalable, since mass-produced or hybrid robots could slot into vision-based frameworks without retrofitting.

Vision isn’t a silver bullet. Some applications, like tactile manipulation or legged locomotion, still require physical sensing for the time being. But pairing cameras with select IoT sensors could reduce the total hardware burden while boosting resilience. The hybrid model looks leaner, cheaper, and more adaptive than the sensor-saturated approach we’ve relied on so far.

Ultimately, shows that AI is expanding what can be considered an IoT “sensor.” A camera plus AI can act as a universal endpoint, generating richer streams of information than most embedded devices. That could push IoT deployments in robotics toward fewer, smarter sensing nodes, while raising new questions about how to manage bandwidth-heavy video data.

Vision-driven learning highlights a critical inflection point for IoT in robotics and beyond: a move away from hardware sprawl and toward intelligent sensing. Whether this truly reshapes industrial automation will depend on how well vision systems scale, but the trajectory is clear.

📖 Top Articles

The chemical industry is a cornerstone of the global economy, supplying essential materials for everything from pharmaceuticals to agriculture. Now, IoT is helping the industry become more efficient and sustainable. How? It integrates laboratory instruments and systems to streamline workflows and operations in the chemical sector.

Wind turbines are a key piece of the green energy puzzle, but managing them can be challenging. These are expensive pieces of machinery, and getting as much value out of them as possible is crucial to push the world toward renewable power. Digital twins can help.

A digital twin consists of a virtual model of a real wind turbine that uses technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) to update the recreation in real time. Because this digital representation reflects up-to-date, real-world data, it’s a useful monitoring and simulation tool. Wind farm operators can use such insights to enhance turbine maintenance in several ways.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has quickly moved from research labs to our daily lives. Advances in large language models (LLMs) have accelerated AI adoption, with chatbots like ChatGPT and Meta AI now serving roughly 700 million and 1 billion active users, respectively. Consumers now rely on them to answer questions, summarize information, and even make simple decisions, gradually replacing traditional tools like Google Search and Wikipedia. Instead of browsing multiple sources, users can now ask an AI-powered app and receive a concise response. These models not only retrieve and consolidate information from various sources but also apply reasoning to provide simplified, actionable answers.

🔥 Rapid Fire

🎙️ The IoT For All Podcast

In this episode of the IoT For All Podcast, Terrence DeFranco, CEO of IotaComm, joins Ryan Chacon to discuss the intersection of IoT, sustainability, and infrastructure modernization. The conversation also covers repurposing licensed wireless spectrum, smart buildings and cities, how data drives businesses, integrating IoT with emerging technologies, connecting legacy systems, and bridging the digital divide.

🗓️ Events & Webinars

The Things Conference 2025 is the world’s most exciting event about LoRaWAN with a focus theme on Edge IoT, bringing together the latest advancements in LoRaWAN, Cellular IoT, AI at the edge, energy harvesting and single-board computing.

From smart infrastructure and industrial automation to AI-powered asset tracking and ultra-low power sensor networks, this global event provides everything you need to build and scale your IoT solutions. Get hands-on with 100+ cutting-edge IoT devices at the Wall of Fame, connect with 1,500+ global attendees, including industry leaders, solution builders and buyers, and dive into expert-led workshops and real-world use cases that are transforming industries today.

The Things Conference 2025 is the must-attend event for anyone looking to stay ahead in IoT and drive innovation toward a smarter, more connected future.

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