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The winsome machines have been kicked, beaten and defaced as they roll through American cities bringing pizza and sushi — and vacuuming up data.

With the terms ‘Physical AI’ and ‘AIoT’ entering the lexicon of IoT, AI is increasingly being integrated into IoT applications, creating new demands on the connectivity that links physical devices to AI systems. The quality of AI outputs depends not only on the model itself, but also on whether the data generated by connected devices is complete, timely, consistent and reliable.

“Payment received.” For millions of small merchants in India, those two words have become part of the daily soundtrack of doing business. A customer scans a QR code, completes an instant payment, and almost immediately a small device sitting on the merchant's counter announces the transaction amount. The merchant does not need to open a smartphone, check an SMS or ask the customer to show a payment screen. It sounds simple.

The role of digital technologies in the energy sector continues to evolve as the adoption of new sustainable technologies increases. When Transforma Insights' Digital Transformation in Green Energy Tech report was first published in 2024, it highlighted the growing complexity of the energy system, including the integration of EVs, battery storage, smart meters, smart grids, microgrids, digital design and energy trading to support a more sustainable and decentralised energy system.

The EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) represents a significant change in how cybersecurity is treated for products with digital elements. Beyond security needing to be demonstrated before a product reaches market, it becomes a responsibility that extends throughout the product lifecycle. The regulations apply to device manufacturers, but it would be easy for an IoT service provider to accidentally become a manufacturer for the purposes of the CRA.

Transforma Insights published a report ‘The potential for energy harvesting powering IoT devices’ that includes forecasts of the number of IoT devices that can potentially make use of four major energy harvesting sources – Solar, Kinetic, Thermal and Radio Frequency (RF) – and so can potentially operate without batteries or access to an external power source.

Remote SIM Provisioning (RSP) is set to become a mainstream feature of cellular IoT over the next decade, with the latest research from Transforma Insights forecasting that standards-based RSP capability will be present in 57% of all cellular IoT device shipments by 2035.

The global AI in IoT market has grown rapidly within the last year, with its value reaching $4.08 billion in 2025, and forecast to reach $6.45 billion by 2035. This progress reflects a wider industry shift, as with the rise of AI organizations are increasingly looking towards a more intelligent and connected future to achieve more from their IoT deployments.

The adoption of digital technologies has transformed many industries over the past decade, enabling greater automation, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making. However, compared to sectors such as manufacturing and retail, the Oil & Gas (O&G) industry has traditionally been slower in embracing digital transformation. This slower pace has largely been due to the industry's unique characteristics, including complex operations, safety-critical processes, stringent regulatory requirements, and the need to operate in remote and harsh environments where reliability is paramount.

In the world of IoT, there has been a lot of discussion recently about ‘Physical AI’, ‘AIoT’ and broadly the impact of the combination of the two technology domains of Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things.