The Internet was invented by physicists, emerging from scientists at CERN who needed a means to send information quickly to geographically dispersed team members. The systems that have evolved since then have been labelled equivalently as the internet or cyber-space. The technical advances which enable the physical infrastructure of the internet are all well-known and well-documented and include fiber optics, diode lasers, electro-optical switching, and wireless networking.

But the internet has yet to reach even a fraction of its potential. Even now, 20 years after the internet’s presence became ubiquitous in business and personal spaces, it serves primarily to move information among computers. Interactions with physical objects are starting to happen, and an explosion of possibilities has caught the imagination of scientists, engineers, computer experts, and the general public.

The phrase the Internet of Things, (IoT) is now being used to represent this interconnection of large numbers of physical entities. But if the interactions arise only from those proficient in software and algorithms, then integration of physical entities, whose behaviors are fundamentally analog, will be inefficient and halting at best. Perhaps this is why the IoT has been so slow to materialize.

This conference, the first of its kind, is intended to bring together those technologists with the skill sets to actualize the IoT. As an APS meeting, we certainly intend to bring together physicists who have interest in this area. In addition, we will include experts in robotics, automation, sensors (without limitation on the definition of a sensor), algorithms, and physical actuation. We also welcome the participation of scientists and engineers from across the technological spectrum (EE, ME, AE, etc.) to allow the sort of cross disciplinary conversations and innovation that will be necessary to build the IoT.