Operating offshore oil and chemical plants requires constant monitoring, but keeping human inspectors on-site poses significant cost, safety, and logistical challenges. Transporting crews, often by helicopter or boat, is expensive and vulnerable to weather delays, while the work itself can be hazardous.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) identified an opportunity to reduce these risks by developing an autonomous inspection solution capable of collecting detailed operational data without requiring continuous human presence.
Originally designed in 2014 with Eneos Corporation for nuclear plant inspections, the EX ROVR ASCENT is a fully autonomous, explosion-proof inspection robot now also deployed in oil and chemical plants. Compact at 70 × 45 × 60 cm, it can navigate complex facilities, climb stairs, and operate a pneumatic arm equipped with microphones, multiple cameras, a thermal imaging unit, and a gas concentration sensor.
The robot transmits inspection data, including audio, visual, temperature, and gas readings, to the cloud, where operators can review it in real time. It can operate for two hours per battery charge, with 24/7 coverage possible using paired units.
Future versions are expected to autonomously determine when inspections are needed, further increasing operational efficiency.
The EX ROVR ASCENT required a communications system that could support both remote control and autonomous operation while securely transmitting sensitive industrial data. Rather than build a complex custom infrastructure from scratch, MHI leveraged AWS cloud services combined with Soracom’s IoT platform for end-to-end connectivity and security.
Soracom Air IoT SIMs provide reliable, global cellular coverage. Soracom Gate enables private, bi-directional LAN connections between deployed robots and remote control terminals. Soracom Beam and Soracom Funk handle secure routing and protocol conversion, transmitting telemetry data directly to AWS. The IoT SIMs themselves authenticate and authorize each device.
“We chose Soracom because their wide service area covered all of the countries where we planned to deploy the system, confidential information could be securely communicated through a closed network, and we could rely on extensive support,” said Naoki Mizuno, Equipment Design Section, MHI. “It is very reassuring to have a partner that so thoroughly understands the innermost workings of the EX ROVR ASCENT, and gives us appropriate advice.”
Soracom’s support helped MHI complete the project on schedule while reducing the system’s maintenance burden.
With Soracom managing all communication between the robot, remote terminals, and AWS, MHI has streamlined system architecture and positioned the EX ROVR ASCENT for scale.
The success of the project has sparked interest across MHI in applying Soracom-powered IoT solutions to other products. The company is now exploring ways to use deep learning and signal processing on collected data to detect, predict, and eventually respond to anomalies in real time.
“In addition to anomaly detection, we would also like to focus on how we can create more value from the data collected by sensors,” said Mizuno. “The world is shifting toward the cloud, which has the advantage of consolidating data in one place. This will make the use of data more valuable.”
The automotive maintenance experience has long been plagued by a lack of transparency, limited control for drivers, and unnecessary stress. From routine servicing to unexpected repairs, vehicle owners often have little insight into their car’s condition between visits to the shop.
Vehicle Mind was created to change that. The Canadian startup set out to modernize the car care industry by giving drivers real-time access to their vehicle’s health data and actionable maintenance alerts—helping them make informed decisions, avoid costly surprises, and keep their cars safer for longer.
“Vehicle Mind was born out of our own frustrations with the lack of control and transparency we experienced when maintaining our cars; not to mention the resulting stress it generated for us and our loved ones,” said co-founder Cialdella. “One thing became clear: the car care market was ripe for change.”
Vehicle Mind’s solution centers on a plug-and-play Hub that connects directly to a vehicle’s onboard diagnostics (OBD-II) port. Unlike Bluetooth-based systems, the Hub features built-in 4G connectivity, giving drivers remote access to their car’s data from anywhere, without needing to be physically near the vehicle or rely on a paired smartphone.
Through the Vehicle Mind app, users can:
This always-on connectivity ensures drivers can monitor their vehicles even when traveling, parking long-term, or leaving cars unused for extended periods.
To deliver these remote insights seamlessly, Vehicle Mind needed a connectivity partner capable of supporting thousands of devices with consistent performance. Soracom’s 4G service offered the ideal combination of coverage, reliability, and scalability to help Vehicle Mind maintain its competitive advantage.
“There’s a major competitive advantage that comes with offering drivers the ability to access their car’s data remotely vs having to stay next to your car to get any visibility on how it’s doing,” said Ghatpande. “People love that the Hub comes with its own 4G connection and it doesn’t have to rely on their phone being nearby to do its job.”
Since launching in November 2020, Vehicle Mind has seen rapid adoption, earning national press coverage, a steady stream of 5-star reviews, and growing revenue. The company is now expanding its offerings with:
With both private mechanics and major maintenance franchises on board, Vehicle Mind has positioned itself as a breakout service in the Canadian automotive market. The team is now preparing to bring the service to drivers in the United States, putting control and ownership back into the hands of car owners everywhere.
Cookpad Mart is an e-commerce service that connects consumers with fresh ingredients from local farmers and specialty shops. Shoppers place orders through a mobile app, and their purchases are delivered to neighborhood “Mart Stations,” refrigerated lockers designed for same-day pickup. This keeps food fresh while making local produce more accessible.
Unlike traditional grocery delivery services, Cookpad Mart avoids central distribution centers that can degrade quality. By shipping directly from farm or shop to customer, they minimize handling and preserve freshness. This farm-to-fridge approach is a defining feature of their service and sets them apart in the crowded grocery marketplace.
To make this system work, Cookpad had to ensure that every order could be processed accurately from the moment it was placed to the moment it was delivered. That required not only a digital marketplace, but also reliable hardware that farmers and small shops could depend on day after day.
Cookpad began with a straightforward idea: equip farmers and specialty shops with label printers so they could mark orders clearly before handing them to drivers. In theory, this would streamline the handoff process and ensure that every product arrived with the correct details.
In practice, the system quickly showed its limits. Labels needed to be water-resistant, consistently formatted, and durable enough to survive handling in busy, sometimes outdoor environments. Without this, consumers could receive confusing or inconsistent information on their deliveries.
A first prototype combining a standard printer with an iPad seemed promising, but testing revealed frequent paper jams, device freezes, and unstable connections between devices. These setbacks made it clear that Cookpad needed a more stable, IoT-ready system to support its unique delivery model.
Cookpad partnered with Soracom to build a more resilient solution. By equipping a Raspberry Pi with Soracom Air cellular connectivity, Cookpad created a reliable communications hub that stabilized printer operations and enabled continuous status monitoring. This reduced common issues like jams and connection drops.
To securely transmit order data, Cookpad used Soracom Canal, which provided a private connection between IoT devices and their AWS-hosted backend. If problems were detected, the operations team could use Soracom Gate to access devices remotely, drastically cutting downtime and eliminating the need for on-site intervention.
Beyond solving the printing challenge, Cookpad extended the solution to food safety. By deploying Soracom Beacon sensors and visualizing their data through Soracom Harvest, Cookpad could monitor temperature, humidity, and location in real time, ensuring quality control from farm to Mart Station.
Soracom’s platform provided Cookpad with a unified foundation for rapid IoT development. With Soracom’s endpoint functions, Cookpad could link data from multiple services simultaneously, including direct integration with AWS through Soracom Funnel. This seamless interoperability allowed engineers to focus on refining customer and farmer experiences rather than managing infrastructure.
Development speed was another key advantage. Using Soracom, just two engineers (one focused on applications and the other on backend systems) were able to design, test, and deploy a fully functional IoT system in only a week. The efficiency of Soracom’s APIs and management tools made rapid prototyping possible.
For Cookpad, the decision to use Soracom wasn’t just about solving immediate technical hurdles. It provided a scalable, flexible platform that could support continuous innovation. With this foundation in place, Cookpad can evolve its service quickly and confidently as customer needs grow.
Cookpad continues to emphasize speed in its hardware development process, with prototypes often produced in as little as a week and rarely taking longer than a month. This allows the team to test, learn, and improve without slowing down day-to-day operations.
Future plans include making it even easier for farmers and specialty shops to participate in the Cookpad Mart ecosystem. By simplifying the hardware and further automating back-end processes, Cookpad hopes to reduce barriers for local producers who may not have prior technical experience.
As Cookpad scales its service into more regions, the company is committed to preserving the freshness and quality that have defined its success. With Soracom as its IoT backbone, Cookpad can expand while maintaining the trust and reliability that keep customers coming back.
Since 2002, Hortau has been pioneering precision agriculture with a focus on optimizing crop yields, conserving water, and reducing environmental impact. Headquartered in the heart of North America’s agricultural regions, the company helps growers maximize the productivity of their land while lowering costs and improving quality.
Hortau’s patented irrigation management system combines IoT connectivity with agronomic expertise, giving growers real-time insight into soil and plant health. By shifting from guesswork to data-driven decisions, farmers are better able to balance water use against crop needs, improving efficiency at every stage of the growing cycle.
As populations rise and arable land remains finite, Hortau’s mission is increasingly urgent: ensuring growers can meet rising demand for food while making responsible use of the world’s most precious natural resources.
For most people, farming is synonymous with land. But for growers, water is every bit as important. According to the USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture, irrigated farms represented just 14% of all U.S. farms, yet accounted for nearly 40% of total U.S. farm sales, a staggering $152 billion in value. Water, in short, is what makes the land produce.
Globally, agriculture consumes up to 70% of freshwater resources, and in produce-heavy states like California, that percentage is even higher. With climate pressures and rising demand straining supply, efficient irrigation has become a critical factor in both economic and political debates. For growers, water management directly influences both profitability and long-term viability.
The real challenge lies in knowing how much water plants actually need. Even with groundwater monitoring, it can be difficult to assess soil conditions at the root level. Overwatering wastes precious resources and can compromise crop quality, while underwatering risks reduced yields or even crop failure. In an industry where margins are slim and risks are high, that margin of error can be devastating.
Hortau’s breakthrough lies in its plant-focused approach. Instead of measuring groundwater or surface irrigation levels, Hortau stations continuously measure soil tension – the precise metric that shows how much effort a plant must expend to access water. This provides growers with a direct window into plant health, allowing them to irrigate based on need rather than estimation.
The system is built around wireless, real-time IoT sensors that transmit data to a secure cloud platform. Farm managers and agronomists can access dashboards that visualize plant stress, soil conditions, and irrigation effectiveness. Alerts and analytics help them fine-tune watering schedules, ensuring crops receive exactly the right amount of water at the right time.
The results speak for themselves. A California pistachio grower using Hortau reduced tree mortality from nearly 30% to almost zero. An onion grower cut water use by 25-30%, while grape and cranberry growers reported measurable improvements in fruit quality. Across diverse crops, Hortau consistently demonstrates that smarter irrigation yields healthier plants and stronger bottom lines.
As one of the earliest adopters of IoT in agriculture, Hortau has worked with nearly every cellular data provider across North America. The company knows firsthand the challenges of rural connectivity, network fragmentation, and inconsistent billing models. Each of these issues slows deployment and adds unnecessary complexity for growers who simply want reliable data from the field.
Soracom’s multicarrier connectivity removes these obstacles by providing a single, global platform. Hortau can pre-provision devices at the factory and ship them anywhere in the U.S. or Canada, confident that they will connect seamlessly. With pooled pricing, Hortau also avoids overage charges, protecting both their margins and their customers from unexpected costs.
Beyond connectivity, Soracom’s cloud-native services support Hortau’s migration to AWS, offering secure, private communication between field devices and cloud applications. Using Soracom Canal, Gate, and custom DNS services, Hortau ensures its network of devices communicates efficiently and securely, enabling continuous data collection and analysis at scale.
Today, Hortau operates thousands of stations across North America, supporting growers of everything from large-scale row crops to high-value specialty crops like berries, nuts, and grapes. The company continues to expand its footprint in the U.S. and Canada, helping farmers adopt data-driven irrigation practices that deliver measurable improvements in both yield and quality.
With operations growing rapidly, Hortau is also beginning to extend its reach into Latin America. These regions face many of the same challenges as North America – limited water supply, rising populations, and increasing demand for sustainable farming practices, making Hortau’s plant-centric model a strong fit.
Looking forward, Hortau remains focused on advancing both technology and adoption. By pairing IoT data with agricultural expertise, Hortau is helping create a farming ecosystem where every drop of water is used wisely and every plant has the opportunity to thrive. For growers across the Americas, that means a more profitable present and a more abundant future.
K’s Design Lab specializes in advanced 3D design, prototyping, and fabrication tools for both professional and industrial users. Their solutions support a wide range of materials and workflows, from vacuum forming to product prototyping and external design, giving creators the tools to bring ideas from digital models into physical form.
The company’s flagship 3D-Mill K-650 was designed from a technician-first perspective, combining precise cutting capability with the flexibility required in modern fabrication. Once material passes through a 3D printer, it moves into cutting operations, where the K-650 enables free-form curves, fine textures, and high-quality finishes that more closely reflect the original data.
By empowering designers with versatile fabrication equipment, K’s Design Lab has positioned itself as an essential partner for the growing demand in rapid prototyping and advanced industrial model-making.
Cutting jobs can vary widely in length depending on size and complexity, sometimes running continuously for hours or even days. During this process, operators typically use a tablet to monitor progress and make adjustments in real time. However, staying physically present throughout an entire job is often impractical or inconvenient.
Without the ability to step away, designers risk reduced productivity and unnecessary downtime. The lack of remote control options also limited the flexibility of the K-650, making it harder to take full advantage of its capabilities.
K’s Design Lab recognized that in order to maximize efficiency, users needed a secure, reliable way to remotely monitor, manage, and adjust the cutting process—without compromising the safety or precision of the equipment.
To address this challenge, K’s Design Lab integrated Soracom Air into the 3D-Mill K-650, enabling a secure mobile data connection that allowed operators to carry the machine’s controller with them wherever they went. This mobility meant users could remotely oversee the cutting process in real time, without needing to stay tethered to the machine.
The team also developed a custom application that allowed users to personalize their controls for designing, testing, and cutting 3D models. This combination of mobile connectivity and flexible software gave designers more freedom and control over the entire workflow.
Security was a critical priority. To ensure data integrity and safe access, K’s Design Lab implemented Soracom Gate with a Virtual Private Gateway (VPG). This setup allowed devices using Soracom Air SIMs to operate on the same subnet with private IP addresses, creating a secure channel for communication between tablets, machines, and company servers.
For K’s Design Lab, the combination of Soracom Air and Soracom Gate provided the best of both worlds: secure connectivity and flexible deployment. By leveraging Soracom’s cellular services, they avoided the risks of relying on shared Wi-Fi networks and created a system that could be reliably accessed from anywhere.
The use of a Virtual Private Gateway was especially important. It ensured that K’s Design Lab could loan tablets freely to operators and clients, while still retaining secure access to monitor equipment and make adjustments as needed. This protected sensitive workflows without creating unnecessary barriers for end users.
By building their solution on Soracom, K’s Design Lab drastically improved the usability of the 3D-Mill K-650, delivering a more powerful and user-friendly tool for both designers and industrial professionals.
The rising demand for rapid prototyping and advanced model fabrication continues to push innovation in 3D production tools. K’s Design Lab is committed to expanding its portfolio of precision equipment to help makers, designers, and industrial users translate digital designs into high-quality physical objects.
As manufacturing workflows evolve, the company plans to build on its existing IoT foundation to deliver even greater levels of efficiency and precision. Future developments will focus on accelerating the prototyping process while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy and finish.
By integrating secure IoT connectivity with advanced fabrication technology, K’s Design Lab aims to help customers achieve new levels of creativity, productivity, and manufacturing excellence.
IHI Corporation is a world-leading provider of heavy-industry equipment, from aerospace systems to industrial machinery. Its power generation business supports the entire lifecycle of gas turbine power plants, ensuring efficiency and reliability from installation through decades of operation.
Because these facilities are often located in remote areas, IHI has been innovating in monitoring and support for decades. Its first remote monitoring system, launched in 1995, relied on secure, proprietary wireline connections to deliver one-way diagnostic data. These links provided a constant flow of information to IHI engineers for real-time turbine analysis and preventive maintenance.
As gas turbine installations expanded worldwide, IHI continued developing ways to enhance its remote monitoring services and meet the growing need for secure, responsive maintenance solutions.
While remote monitoring could detect issues, on-site adjustments were still required when maintenance alerts were triggered. Sending teams of engineers to distant facilities introduced delays and raised costs, especially for sites in hard-to-reach locations.
To increase responsiveness and improve customer support, IHI wanted the ability to make secure, real-time adjustments remotely. Yet power plants represent critical infrastructure, and opening a pathway for external access over the public internet was considered too risky.
The challenge was clear: IHI needed a secure, reliable, and cost-efficient way to enable two-way connectivity with customer systems without exposing sensitive data or systems to external threats.
IHI turned to Soracom to create a connectivity solution that balanced flexibility and security. Using Soracom Air, gateways at each power plant can connect directly to IHI headquarters in Toyosu, Japan, regardless of where the facility is located.
When monitoring systems flag a maintenance requirement, IHI uses Soracom Gate to establish a secure, private networking channel between headquarters and the customer site. This on-demand connection enables real-time remote adjustments to turbine equipment, bypassing the public internet and minimizing the risk of unauthorized access.
Because adjustments are needed only occasionally, Soracom’s pay-as-you-go model proved to be a perfect fit. It eliminated the expense of full-time data connections while giving IHI the flexibility to spin up secure sessions only when necessary. With Soracom’s global SIMs, IHI also avoids negotiating local connectivity contracts, ensuring consistent service worldwide.
By integrating Soracom Air and Soracom Gate, IHI achieved a remote management solution that enhances customer satisfaction and lowers operating costs. Power plants can now remain at peak efficiency with minimal downtime, even in challenging or remote environments.
An in-house software application built on the Soracom API allows IHI engineers to make secure adjustments without requiring advanced technical knowledge. Routine fixes can be handled remotely, and urgent issues can be addressed immediately, even while teams are traveling to the site. This flexibility has reduced unnecessary site visits, accelerated response times, and improved plant reliability.
For IHI’s customers, the benefits are clear: enhanced performance, lower maintenance costs, and the assurance of secure, professional oversight at all times.
Looking ahead, IHI plans to continue expanding its portfolio of gas turbine power plants worldwide, particularly in emerging markets. With installations increasingly located in remote or hard-to-reach regions, the ability to remotely monitor and manage facilities will be central to delivering long-term customer value.
IHI will continue to strengthen its service offerings across the full power plant lifecycle. Remote maintenance will increasingly complement real-time diagnostics, providing a seamless support system that helps customers maximize performance while minimizing operational risks.
With Soracom’s global connectivity and secure networking, IHI is well positioned to keep delivering advanced support services wherever its customers need them most.
Large buildings like airports and shopping centers consume roughly 40% of the world’s energy, often inefficiently. Heating and cooling systems are especially challenging: they are complex to configure, often unaware of actual indoor conditions, and can leave occupants uncomfortable while consuming more energy than necessary.
Enerbrain developed a cloud-driven solution combining IoT hardware, algorithms, and mobile apps to transform building management. The system makes existing HVAC infrastructure smarter, easier to control, and more comfortable for occupants, delivering up to 30% energy savings without requiring expert oversight.
By offering a simple installation process and compatibility with existing building management systems, Enerbrain helps property managers reduce both operating costs and environmental impact.
As Enerbrain’s Energy Cloud solution expanded across Europe, it quickly faced new connectivity and data management challenges. Devices in different markets generated growing volumes of environmental data, which had to be transmitted securely from sensors to cloud platforms.
Managing device lifecycles was critical. Each sensor required unique identifiers and consistent integration with customer systems, adding complexity to deployments in multiple countries. At the same time, differing national standards for environmental and building data created the need for a standardized pipeline to combine and analyze disparate data sources smoothly.
Enerbrain needed a solution that would ensure secure connectivity, simplify global device management, and scale easily with its rapid growth.
Enerbrain selected Soracom to connect and manage its IoT devices across multiple countries. Using Soracom Air for cellular connectivity and Soracom Air for Sigfox for low-power devices, the company could unify management of both types of devices under a single platform.
For data integration, Enerbrain relies on Soracom Beam to transmit sensor data directly into AWS IoT. Soracom Canal provides secure VPC peering with AWS, while Soracom Gate ensures private bidirectional communication for device administration and troubleshooting.
Enerbrain also uses Soracom Harvest to collect baseline device metrics, enabling quick visualization and simple API access for diagnostics. This combination of services allows the company to securely manage devices, standardize its data pipeline, and integrate seamlessly with AWS cloud services.
As a data-driven company, Enerbrain needed a partner that could deliver both connectivity and a suite of cloud-integrated services. Soracom provided exactly that, enabling secure communication, real-time device management, and efficient data visualization.
“Together with Soracom Canal, Gate and Beam, we can securely integrate data from our cellular and Sigfox devices into AWS IoT and communicate back to them whenever required for tasks such as troubleshooting and upgrades,” the team explains.
The pay-as-you-go model made it easy to scale operations efficiently, while Soracom’s platform simplified SIM and device management across multiple countries. With Harvest’s fast visualization capabilities, Enerbrain significantly improved its operational efficiency, reducing time spent on troubleshooting and device oversight.
As Enerbrain continues to expand into new regions, improving operational efficiency remains a top priority. Currently, device states are monitored through Soracom APIs, and the company plans to integrate Harvest APIs for deeper cross-data mapping between products, providers, and business systems.
The next step is closer integration with Soracom Funnel, which will further streamline data processing and simplify code requirements for large-scale deployments. This will allow Enerbrain to scale its data pipeline without adding operational complexity.
Since adopting Soracom, Enerbrain has grown from serving customers in Italy and France to operating across Europe, the Americas, India, the Emirates, and Japan, where it opened a subsidiary in 2018. With Soracom as a long-term partner, Enerbrain is confident in its ability to expand globally while continuing to deliver smarter, more sustainable building solutions.
Wine is particularly sensitive to environmental changes, and even slight deviations in temperature, humidity, or light exposure can affect its quality. For wineries and distributors, ensuring that bottles are stored and transported under ideal conditions is essential not only for product quality but also for brand reputation.
The challenge lies in the complexity of the global supply chain. A single shipment of wine may travel across multiple countries, distributors, and retailers before reaching the end consumer. Each handoff represents a potential point of failure, making real-time monitoring and secure data transfer mission-critical.
For ISTMOS, creating a truly effective quality assurance system meant enabling every stakeholder, whether a local distributor or an international retailer, to access and trust consistent data across the entire supply chain. That required an IoT solution capable of delivering reliable connectivity worldwide.
To address this challenge, ISTMOS designed a system that integrates IoT gateways, environmental sensors, and a customizable decision support platform. These gateways continuously measure and record temperature, humidity, and luminosity, triggering alerts whenever conditions deviate from safe thresholds.
Each gateway is connected through Soracom Air SIMs, providing a secure cellular link that works across borders and networks. Once collected, sensor data is transmitted to the ISTMOS platform via Soracom Beam, which securely relays information while preserving critical metadata such as timestamps, device IDs, and geographic location.
With this system in place, wineries, distributors, and retailers gain continuous visibility into product conditions. From the moment a bottle leaves the vineyard until it reaches the consumer, ISTMOS ensures that any issue is detected early and addressed before it impacts quality.
For ISTMOS, data integrity and system reliability are non-negotiable. By leveraging Soracom Air, the company can easily provision and manage SIM cards, ensuring that new devices can be deployed quickly without complex setup. The global reach of Soracom’s network also allows ISTMOS to scale its solution internationally with confidence.
Meanwhile, Soracom Beam streamlines the process of securely transmitting IoT data from devices to the cloud. This not only reduces development overhead but also ensures that sensitive information travels safely, giving stakeholders peace of mind.
The combination of Soracom’s connectivity and management tools allows ISTMOS to operate efficiently at scale, reducing operational overhead while focusing on delivering a reliable, AI-supported monitoring solution for the global wine supply chain.
As a growing startup, ISTMOS continues to innovate by expanding its system capabilities and exploring additional Soracom services. With interest in extending beyond wine into other high-value goods, the company sees enormous potential for IoT-enabled supply chain management.
Future plans include testing services such as Soracom Endorse for authentication, Soracom Funnel for direct cloud integration, and Soracom Gate for building secure private networks. By incorporating these tools, ISTMOS aims to further enhance transparency, scalability, and security across its platform.
With Soracom as a trusted partner, ISTMOS is well positioned to scale its solution across industries and ensure that products sensitive to environmental conditions maintain quality throughout their journey.