The term ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) refers to the interconnection of physical, tangible objects, such as wearables, sensors, smartphones and similar technical devices over the Internet, enabling these objects to communicate and exchange data and creating a network between devices via the Internet. The devices are communicating directly with each other in the sense of machine-to-machine communication and are thus able to implement tasks and processes in a nearly completely automated fashion without requiring explicit human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
In the future, it is conceivable that particularly old and sick people could benefit greatly from the IoT, for example by sensors that monitor medication intake or sensors in beds that alert nurses to problems at night.