Why Do Elevators Need to Be Smart? LiFTMiND Reveals the Safety Net Behind AIoT

Why Do Elevators Need to Be Smart? LiFTMiND Reveals the Safety Net Behind AIoT

What is a Smart City? What applications already exist worldwide? Let’s uncover the charm of smart cities!

A “Smart City,” sometimes also called a “sensing city,” is a concept referring to the use of advanced information and communication technology (ICT), along with sensors, data analytics, and the internet, to improve a city’s operational efficiency, quality of life, and sustainable development. The goal of a sensing city is to allow cities to be managed and operated more intelligently through the collection, analysis, and application of data, meeting residents’ needs and providing better public services. Today, smart cities are already an indispensable part of development—how to use data, communication, and technology to solve urban problems is a direction that governments worldwide are actively promoting.

What is the concept of a smart city?

According to a CommonWealth Magazine report, the global population continues to grow and concentrate in cities—the UN estimates that by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. In other words, urbanization leads to overcrowded cities, and the resulting problems need technology to get ahead of them.

The initial concept of the smart city came from IBM’s “Smarter Planet”—a report they released at the time mentioned the concept of the smart city, titled “Smart Planet: The Future of the Internet of Things.” Using IoT, AI, cloud computing, and other tools, forming efficient interaction with a city’s transportation, water systems, power equipment, buildings, and other equipment systems, ultimately improving government efficiency and also improving residents’ quality of life and the city’s sustainable development.

Since then, the concept of the smart city has gradually become widely accepted and applied, becoming an important direction for many cities’ development and planning. Different cities and countries have their own models and innovations in the practice and application of smart cities.

The six key indicators of a smart city

With rapidly evolving technology, the progress of smart city development has also become a key indicator of international urban competitiveness, and smart cities have six major indicators:

1. Smart Environment: includes smart buildings, energy management, and smart planning.
2. Smart Mobility: includes diverse transportation, green energy, and big data.
3. Smart Living: includes inclusive communities, health management, and cultural well-being.
4. Smart People: includes smart education, public affairs, and ethnic inclusion.
5. Smart Government: includes smart management, citizen-friendly services, and digital policy.
6. Smart Economy: includes creating opportunities, industrial transformation, and network connectivity.

Through data analysis, smart cities can achieve various functions and applications, including smart traffic management, energy-saving and environmental measures, smart public services, smart buildings, and smart safety. For example, a traffic management system based on data analysis can optimize traffic flow, reducing congestion and pollution; a smart energy management system can monitor and adjust energy usage, achieving energy savings and carbon reduction; smart public services can provide convenient mobile payments, smart parking, and smart city management. According to SDG indicator 11, which calls for building inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities, we can see that smart cities are not a new topic but have long been a consistent development strategy.

The elevator industry is like this—in the places we can’t see are truly the posts that matter most to life and safety. Elevators provide people with convenient vertical transportation. They can quickly and safely carry passengers from one floor to another, saving precious time and energy. Whether in residential buildings, commercial buildings, or public places, elevators allow us to move more easily.

For this reason, elevator safety is even more important to passengers. Modern elevators are equipped with various safety facilities and systems, such as door interlocks and emergency stop devices, to ensure passenger safety. Even in emergencies, elevators provide emergency evacuation and emergency call options. Of course, everyday education about being trapped in an elevator should not be overlooked either!

What should we do when trapped in an elevator?

Stay calm: passengers should stay calm and not panic or take any dangerous action.

Press the emergency button: passengers can press the emergency button inside the elevator to notify maintenance personnel or building management that someone is trapped.

Notify the outside world: passengers can use their own phone or other communication devices to notify the outside world, such as calling an emergency number or sending a distress message. When signal is poor inside the elevator and 119 cannot be reached, try calling the emergency number “112,” and also knock on the elevator door to make noise and shout loudly to attract attention.

Wait for rescue: passengers should patiently wait for rescue personnel to arrive. Excessive tension can easily cause rapid breathing, shortness of breath, and other symptoms resembling oxygen deprivation, so when trapped, relax and breathe slowly and deeply—don’t panic.

Never forcibly open the elevator door, or you may fall into the elevator shaft or suffer other injuries and dangerous situations.

Have you noticed that even under this comprehensive safety mechanism, a rescue blind spot still exists?

When a passenger inside an elevator is injured, faints, or for other reasons “cannot press the emergency call button” or cannot “call for help on their own,” rescue must rely on discovery from outside or by someone else before anyone realizes the passenger is trapped. This delays rescue action, potentially affecting the passenger’s safety and rescue efficiency, and further increases the risk of accidents.

Why do elevators need to be smart?

Thanks to technology, the “active entrapment detection system” will help transform this elevator predicament!

The core value of intelligence is to allow elevators to achieve real-time capability through connectivity, while also strengthening predictive and maintenance capability through data collection and learning. Extending this application to the “entrapment detection system,” it has become one of the important functions of elevator safety. Through the detection system, the elevator can determine the passenger’s status in real time, including whether they are trapped and their location. Once the system detects someone trapped inside, it will immediately issue an alert and notify relevant personnel. The application of this technology allows rescue operations to be carried out faster and more accurately, improving passenger safety and rescue efficiency.

Entrapment detection technology can also be combined with other advanced smart systems, such as AI and IoT, to achieve more efficient rescue and management. For example, by using cameras and sensors, the system can automatically identify the passenger’s location and status, and send corresponding video signals to relevant rescue personnel. At the same time, rescue personnel can receive these alerts via a platform or mobile phone and quickly take corresponding measures. This integration and innovative application makes handling elevator entrapment incidents more efficient.

Whether new or old, any elevator can be equipped with our developed LiFTMiND to achieve elevator safety and disaster prevention capability, allowing us to continue quietly guarding every ride you take, and be fully prepared before any unpredictable disaster strikes.