[H]ERC : The Human Protocol was designed and developed by a world class distributed team to Help Eradicate Racketeering and Collusion in Supply Chains by Decentralizing the Data Integrity of Performance Reports.
Leveraging Layered Blockchain Technologies the Hercules Platform is based on a set of protocols powered by HERC tokens.
HERC Utility Tokens can be purchased on October 29, 2018 12AM PST from HERC.ONE. The 12 Month Crowdsale will continue until the tokens are all sold, if tokens remain on October 29, 2019 the remaining tokens will be burned reducing the total supply. 
Helping Eradicate Racketeering and Collusion
The ability to connect, track, trace, and validate the provenance of physical goods and digital assets across the supply chain transparently, at low cost and at scale offers the opportunity to increase safety and confidence for the benefit of businesses and consumers.
Hercules is the first commercially viable blockchain protocol platform leveraging Bitcoin, Ethereum and other blockchains to tremendously lower volatility through layering and least cost routing techniques, making the cost of using blockchain software more predictable for supply chain provenance management.
The Hercules supply chain protocol:
Facilitates standardization of data between parties
Makes it simpler, faster, and cost-effective to onboard new vendors and partners through digital identification
Drastically reduces the costs of storing data over time
Protects sensitive data on a transparent platform
And makes it possible to set up a wide range of self-executing contracts.
Private blockchains are more vulnerable to network manipulation due to their centralized governance structure but in a decentralized public blockchain, no one body has control over the network, ensuring secure
transactions that cannot be altered once validated.
Hercules not only leverages the Bitcoin and Ethereum public blockchains but also open-source protocols such as IPFS and decentralized cloud storage networks such as Storj.
This means that anyone, anywhere, can use a public blockchain to input transactions and store data as long as they are connected to the network.
Hercules also adds an extra layer of protection utilizing Human Initiated Performance Reporting, which validates transactions through Proof of Human Work, using incentivized gamification.
With increasing need for supply chain transparency, and more cost-efficient enterprise solutions, interoperability among blockchains makes sharing of information safer and promotes transaction efficiency across blockchain systems since users from other blockchains will be able to send and read data between different blockchains with greater ease.
Hercules multi-layered blockchain protocol, powered by HERC tokens, not only solves the problem of provenance but also has the potential to provide 100% transparency into all operations, processes and transactions.
The purpose of this paper is to technically explain the Hercules Solution which enables better identification of the origin and characteristics of a product, instantly find its location in the supply chain, track product movements or trace the origins and follow an asset through its entire life cycle.
Hercules Simplified
Users on the Hercules platform can create a custom supply chain by defining the items to be tracked and the information to be recorded about each item as it passes through the supply chain. In addition to text-based data, photos and video files can also be stored. The Hercules mobile application then allows authorized users to record and track the user-configured data for each item in the supply chain. The data is encrypted and stored securely and immutably on third-party decentralized storage platforms incorporated into Hercules.
To further secure the information, cryptographic hashes of the data are created, stored and indexed utilizing the Factom protocol. The indexing works in a manner similar to library indexing cards, but instead of being stored in a filing cabinet, the indexing information is written to the Factom blockchain, where it is subsequently anchored by the Bitcoin blockchain. These indexing entries cannot be altered in any way, are completely transparent, and publicly viewable. However, the underlying data remains completely private, viewable only by authorized users through our 2nd layer identity and Edge Secure (edge.app) the wallet solution for Hercules..
In addition to intra-company supply chain management, Hercules is even more powerful when utilized for more complex supply chains with multiple entities contributing data. Since Hercules is blockchain-based, the supply chain data is a common, shared ledger accessible by all the participants. Therefore, instead of each party in the supply chain maintaining its own records, which creates inconsistencies in traditional supply chain management environments, the Hercules protocol enables all participants in any given
The Hercules platform leverages its blockchain technology by offering a supply chain management solution that provides:
Flexibility, by enabling users to define the items to be tracked and the data elements to be entered for each item.
User-definable permissioned-level sharing of data both inside an organization and with partner enterprises in the supply chain.
Fully decentralized solution with no single point of failure.
Secure and immutable data storage.
Data validation on an ongoing basis and on-demand.
The Hercules Decentralized Application
The Hercules decentralized application is the user interface for the multi-layered HERC blockchain protocol platform. It will be available for both Android and iOS devices in the respective app stores and in the form of a web3 decentralized application. It is a DApp utilising the HERC protocol that interacts with the core Hercules smart contracts, as well as, the various third-party decentralized storage solutions incorporated into the Hercules solution.
In addition to the flexibility the user gets from creating a custom supply chain with predefined tracking items and information, the application can be customized as necessary to meet the requirements of a given supply chain. Users can do this development themselves, or, can evoke the Hercules software development team to build a supply chain for them.
The supply chain creator also determines who can record data to the supply chain. Once a user is authorized, they are able to use the Hercules application to enter text and numerical data about items in the
supply chain to share data transparently which helps reduce many of the problems plaguing complex supply chains today.
The Utility of HERC
HERC tokens are ERC777 tokens that act as “software keys” to access and unlock the information on the Hercules protocol. By staking 1,000 HERCs in their wallet, the user can create a Hercules supply chain. HERC tokens are also required to record data to the supply chain and to review the indexing information stored by the platform, at the cost of ~$.001 per kB of indexing information or $.000032 per Hercules entry, and to pay the third-party decentralized storage platform fees. Finally, HERC tokens are also used to incentivize participation in the HIPR validation process.
THE HERCULES SOLUTION
The Inspiration
The Hercules technology was inspired by a company owned by the HERC Executive team, the company is developing a gold-backed crypto token called (AGLD). After collaborative efforts between both entities, AGLD happens to be the first client of the Hercules blockchain protocol which helps prove and validate the gold content, purity, existence, and location of the gold bars backing each AGLD token along the supply chain. Hercules SEZC, was incorporated in November, 2017 and is headquartered in Grand Cayman. Although gold validation is the first use case for Hercules, this blockchain data management software technology can and will be used for many other use cases such as other precious metals, retail verticals, B2B enterprises, petrochemicals, automotive and food industries, just to name a few.
supply chain, as well as, photographs and videos of items, if those elements have been specified for the supply chain in question.
Participants in the supply chain can also use the Hercules application to view information about items as they pass through the supply chain and to validate the data. In order to protect proprietary information, the ability to view specific information elements can be limited to authorized users only through the encrypted identity environment provided by Edge Secure.
The core smart contracts consist of the following:
assetTracking.sol This smart contract creates a structure for the items to be tracked in the supply chain and manages the identification of each unique instance of an item in the supply chain.
assetMeasure.sol This smart contract manages the interface between the Ethereum network and the third-party storage solutions - utilized by the Hercules platform. The HERC token is the medium of exchange between multiple different protocols within the Hercules platform. The assetMeasure contract weighs the data cost for uploading and retrieving information in the value chain. As well as, handling the movement of HERCs that the supply chain manager needs to register a new value chain and the amount for the digital viewer.
assetValidation.sol This smart contract provides the ability to validate items in the supply chain. It compares the data recorded about an item at different stages in the supply chain process to ensure that the data is the same, confirming the identity of the item and that it has not been altered. Authorized users can initiate the validation process for an item at any point during the item’s passage through the supply chain. The assetValidation contract is also utilized by HIPR, the Hercules solution component that provides ongoing validation of items in the supply chain.
Human Initiated Performance Report or HIPRAs HERC works fundamentally on a Tri-Party system. It is imperative that each entity have no relation to the interests of either of the other two. Due to the
decentralized nature of Blockchain technology, crowdsourcing the essential review function within our DApp is not only necessary, but a requirement.
Introducing Human Initiated Performance Reporting or HIPR. With HIPR, the HERC DApp will bring incentivised
gamification to the mundane task of auditing documents.
Using steganography, encrypting the data of each IPFS Data Module into a dynamic visual file HIPR will generate a puzzle. Steganography in HIPR
Context
When HIPR requests a new puzzle from the server, it receives an hash. The hash represents the puzzle and it is an encrypted and SHA256-ed string. This hash contains data we want to compare (with original data) and validate on server end.
Puzzle generation
To correctly generate a puzzle we perform two main steps:
- we choose the puzzle type and we pick a specific texture accordingly (this is based on some internal rules)
we perform a steganography pass on this texture, by encoding the received hash
EncodingThe encoding is performed with steganography algorithm. In few words, it is the process to mask a message within an image/texture in a way that it is not visible to the eye. We use this implementation of the algorithm: basically it translates the message in bits and encodes them in the alpha channel of the image.
GoalTo human-validate this data, we encode this hash in the puzzle’s structure and we shuffle the puzzle.
In this state, if the player tries to decode the hash from the puzzle, they obtain an invalid result. The player has to solve the puzzle in order to decode correctly the hash.
The user does not know what data is contained in that hash, they only know it has to be reordered to complete the puzzle.
When the user finishes the puzzle they will be rewarded. A mean average of all HIPR Reports (from the human swarm) will be taken at the end of every audit cycle and shown to the community.
Performance Reporting Internal Control:It is the first ever gamified “Internal Review” function; whereas the software validates the integrity of the chain data and secures the network through human initiation of smart contract completing checksums.
We are building it on Unity3D, with C# and targeting WebGL to execute distributed code contracts (smart contracts) compiled in Solidity.
one or multiple picture angles, taken from the supply chain manager’s device.
Compressed Video Evidence provides pixelization changes over time dramatically reducing cost overtime. This is a future development of HERC Protocols.
Specified Markings (serial numbers, assayer, manufacturer, color, etc).
Scientific Test Results (Analysis)
Human Swarm (PoHW/HIPR)
Only humans are capable of or have:
Intuition
Opinion
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Reputation
Purpose Driven Human Micro Tasking with Human Initiated Performance ReportingHIPR is an innovative approach to ordering and validating transaction in the Hercules Supply Chain which replaces costly massive computing power and electricity with Proof of Human Work which incentivises human pkayers to solve puzzles that initiate smart contract functionality. This is also a batching process that extends TPS by a viewed 5x on average. The details of how this innovative approach are as follows.
we choose the puzzle type and we pick a specific texture accordingly (this is based on some internal rules)
we perform a steganography pass on this texture, by encoding the received hash
How does it work?When assets’ metrics are uploaded (both that of an originator and a recipient relative to the specific touchpoint in the supply chain) a puzzle is generated and marked as unsolved.
When a player starts the game, an unsolved puzzle is pulled from the blockchain.
Metrics are encoded in the puzzle game’s texture with steganography and puzzle is shuffled.
When the player solves the puzzle, fractional HERC is awarded to the player.
Metrics are decrypted and sent to the compare and contrast contract, to validate them.
The game already has an auto-login feature: the first time the user logs in, his credentials are stored and reused automatically for the next login with no user interaction.
The login uses a Bilateral ECDSA keypair in a split encryption environment for user security.
Web ServiceThe Web Service is a REST API middle layer that collects players’ requests, sanitizes them and pushes them to specific smart contracts. We are implementing this due to cheaters and bad actors: we are concerned that a direct access to smart contracts from a client side can be a potential security risk.
Main requests solved in the RESTful HIPR:
Game MechanicsThe game starts when puzzle data is received: a puzzle is generated based on received data and metrics are encoded in its texture.
Once the puzzle is solved, data is decoded and it is sent to the compare and contrast service, to validate the result.
The score is generated by considering how much time and how many moves the player spent to solve the puzzle. Best scores will be saved to the leaderboard and they will be globally visible.
Currently we’ve planned to have a few different puzzle games: sliding-tiles puzzle and a matching colors.
But we will certainly add new puzzles and challenges including brain training as we scale.
LoginCurrently we are logging in directly inside the dapp, by pinging an Infura node. Users will seamlessly be organized via a shared login service from their Edge account.
It can generate a login token that we can easily use to identify the session, without asking for credentials (address + private key) every time.
Login: to have a shared login service, It will process the user address + private key.
Get puzzle data: we want to receive an unsolved puzzle when the game starts, so we have to request for it.
Verify solved data: here we want to collect results from the puzzle: solved metrics, timer, moves count, etc. We want to sanitize/verify them and push them to smart contracts.
Smart ContractsThe puzzleManager.sol contract takes the two data sets, creates a new puzzle, encrypts them into the puzzle itself and serves the community the puzzle to be solved.After the player wins the puzzle the assetValidation.sol contract receives the new decrypted metric data and compares and contrasts the two arrays. These lists act as checksums against each other and notify the original users if there is an issue.
The playerScore.sol contract receives the user’s score and inserts it into a leaderboard which is on the blockchain.
We have various partners and layered technologies we'd like to thank for making this all possible
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