The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – SDT Inc. Booth Interview at CES Show 2023

Episode Date: January 8, 2023

SDT Inc. Booth Interview at CES Show 2023 Sdt.inc

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Hey, we're down here at SDT. We're in the Korean water section of the thing. And do you have the booth number by chance off the top of your head? 63093. There you go. There you go. So, guys, come see the Muirica Park. And we're talking with Dana here from SDT.

Dana, how are you? Good. Thank you, Chris. Thank you so much for having me. It is a pleasure to be here, and it is my honor today to speak in front of you representing SDT here at CES 2023. There you go. And give us a.com, wherever people can find you guys on the interwebs, please. Oh, you can find us at SDT.inc, or you can find us on LinkedIn as well with the same name.

There you go. So give us an overview, if you would, please, of what SDT does. SDT is mainly doing two things. The first one is we are connecting the unconnected. So, for example, Smart Manhole, which we brought here, is a great example of what we're doing. Manholes are an example of the unconnected environment, and I will go into more detail about that later today. And the second main thing that we're doing is we are helping researchers do better research on quantum technology. We provide tools that researchers use in labs and universities

across the world so that they can make more qubits in a more stable manner. There you go. So you've got some cool products here. Tell us what some of these do. Sure. So we brought the Smart Hub, which is the complete integrated system that measures what's going on inside manholes. So, you know, in the news pretty regularly you hear about pedestrians falling into manholes. So, you know, in the news pretty regularly, you hear about pedestrians falling into manholes or maintenance workers dying from suffocation while working in manholes. Wow.

Scary stuff. And did you know that in 2021, there were more than 6,000 manhole fires just in New York City? Holy crap. Right. What's going on down there? I know, right? The rats are cooking or something.

Yeah. So this is a simulated manhole cover that we have here. Right. What's going on down there? I know, right? The rats are cooking or something. Yeah. So this is a simulated manhole cover that we have here. Right. I actually had a friend who, she was out just walking, you know, doing her walking, and she fell in a manhole cover that wasn't fully sealed down. Right. And it hurt her back. Yeah.

It's like a big lawsuit. Yeah, it is. It sure is. And it's a huge risk factor for cities and companies that own manholes. For example, gas companies, telecommunication providers, as well as factories. There are hundreds of thousands of manholes across the world, and those are basically risk factors. Definitely. And liabilities. Right.

So this hooks up to the manhole cover. Right. And what all is in the details there? So this is where all the sensors go. Okay. So, for example, some of the things that our customers want to measure from their manholes are water level, because they need to be able to predict when flooding is about to happen. Oh.

And H2S, hydrogen sulfide, because that's a main thing that kills maintenance workers working in manholes. Wow. Yeah. Crazy. Carbon monoxide is another one. Open closed sensor, just like you mentioned, your friend. If her city had had this, that would not have happened because the city would have known that the manhole was open.

Oh. Yeah. So the main problem with manholes is that manholes go unmonitored unless there is someone watching it right next to it. Yeah. And, you know, in this day and age, people should not be visiting every single manhole manholes go unmonitored unless there is someone watching it right next to it. And, you know, in this day and age, people should not be visiting every single manhole and cannot keep accidents happening. Yeah.

So basically, your good analogy would be you're making manholes smart. Right. So smart technology. Right. There you go. And once the data has been collected from inside the manholes, the data will be sent over to the cloud using LTE Cat M1 network. Wow.

And this is battery-powered as well. Wow. It looks like it has more power than my phone. Definitely, because it does need to last longer. And we do understand that these are meant to be installed underneath manhole covers, which means that these are exposed to harsh conditions. There's a lot of moisture. It could get hot, really cold inside manholes. So we take that into account, and we, our engineers at SDT,

have gone the extra mile to get the product certified for waterproof, shockproof, and explosion protection. Explosion protection, too? Yes, because batteries could be used. Oh, batteries could be explored. Yeah. And I imagine, you know, the salt, the salt they use on the roads, especially in snowy states. There's, you know, all sorts of other things. And I see some different ones over here.

Are these any different, or is this the same kind of setup, just showing them externally from a manual? They just look different because some of our customers want certain designs. Okay. But one thing I do want to point out here is that these have been made in a modular design so that we can do maintenance more easily. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, you know, when the time to replace the batteries come,

you can just take the batteries out and then put them back in. So are all of these three batteries right here? These two are batteries. Okay. This is where all the sensors go. Okay. And this is what sends the data to the cloud. Okay.

Yeah. And I can see that this is kind of cool. They stack here for you to use as well. So that's probably, depending on how big your manhole is. Right. You know, you can check that out. So really cool. Yeah, thank you.

That is smart. You know, I just thought they were out of how to make things smarter. There's always stuff to make smarter. Yeah, so the reason why we measure things is because we want to be able to tell when accidents are about to occur. So, for example, when we let our users set their own threshold, so when hydrogen sulfide concentration level in manholes go above a certain level, the manager who's in charge of that specific manhole will be notified, and he or she will dispatch someone to work on that manhole.

There you go. Yeah. That's awesome. I mean, smart technology, a smart world. Anything more we need to know about what you guys are doing here? Sure. And we also provide dashboard software so that our end users can see what's wrong with which manhole in which area so that they can dispatch the right people at the right time.

There you go. So who are you looking to meet here at the show? Are you looking to meet fleet managers or facility managers for cities and things of that nature? Definitely. Most of our customers are city governments or sewage system providers. Some of our customers, like I mentioned, are gas companies and telecommunications service providers. There you go. All right, well, it's been wonderful to spend time with you, Dana.

Thank you very much for the information. Give us your.com where people can find you on the interwebs. You can find us at sdt.inc. That's sdt.inc. There you go. Check it out, guys, and thanks for being here. Thanks so much, Chris. All right.