Bosch — best known as an industrial technology company and as a key supplier of automotive components — has chosen CES 2019 to reposition itself as a leading company in the consumer IoT market.
It has debuted a new marketing campaign, “Like a Bosch”, the main plank of which is “a hip-hop video clipfeaturing a protagonist who is a savvy IoT user.”
Bosch says the campaign aims to capitalise on “a rash of ‘like a boss’ videos and memes that have gone viral on the Internet, attracting tens of millions of clicks.”
In its announcement Bosch identifies artificial intelligence (AI) as “One of the keys to further growth and new business opportunities [in IoT].”
Bosch board of management member Dr Markus Heyn says: “The IoT needs intelligence. The use of connected things to gather data can be a decisive boost for the development of AI. It is only through AI that connected things become intelligent and learn to draw their own conclusions.”
Intelligent fire detection
He cites the example of video-based fire detection. “By using intelligent image analysis, security cameras are able to identify fires within a few seconds, even before the system’s sensors detect heat and smoke. In this way, fires can be detected considerably earlier than with conventional fire or smoke alarm systems.”
Bosch sees its cloud based Bosch IoT Suite as a key component of its strategy. It claims to have carried out more than 270 projects in field such as mobility, smart homes, smart cities and agriculture and says the number of sensors and devices connected over the Bosch IoT Suite has risen nearly 40 percent since last year, and now stands at 8.5 million. (It did not say how many of these were serving consumer applications).
Intelligent listening for home devices
Also showing its wares at CES 2019 was a California based Sensory, a privately held software company “focused on improving the user experience through embedded machine learning technologies such as voice, vision, and natural language processing.”
It has launched TrulySecure Sound ID; software that can be incorporated by vendors of a wide range of home devices to give those devices the ability to identify a variety of common and critical sounds within the home, and intelligently interpret if action needs to be taken.
TrulySecure Sound ID is said to be capable of recognising a variety of environmental sounds such as glass breaking, babies crying, dogs barking, home security alarms, smoke/CO alarms and low-battery warnings, doorbells, knocking, snoring and to enable the host device to alert the home owner and play the offending sound to them.
Unlike Google Home et alTrulySecure Sound ID handles all processing locally “without the security risk of sending audio recordings to the cloud for processing,” Sensory claims.
A touch screen for everything
Bosch also made another announcement at CES 2019 that, like Truly Secure Sound ID, is designed to add additional functionality to existing devices. The BML100PI is an “interactive projection module that “enriches smart homes with a virtual touchscreen on every surface – turning ordinary shelves into personal assistants.”
The BML100PI is billed as “a compact plug-and-play solution that enables manufacturers of smart home appliances and furniture to create entirely new, exciting use cases [creating] a huge potential for product differentiation for manufacturers.”
AI tools that gather, analyse and respond to user input, user behaviour and the user’s environment clearly represent huge potential for product differentiation. So expect to see intelligence to varying degrees being incorporated in more and more consumer goods.