Bosch showcases smart-home, smart-city innovations

Werner Struth, a member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, told the media that in the near future, demand for innovative solutions connected with the Internet of Things would continue to grow. By 2020, the global IoT market is expected to be worth about US$250 billion (Bt8.9 trillion), a third of which will be generated in the Americas. 
“We are in a strong position to tap this potential. From mobility solutions [and] industrial technology to energy and building technology as well as consumer goods, we are active in many fields,” he said.
Bosch plans to make all of its electronic products connected by 2020. Therefore, the company decided to launch IoT Cloud in Germany last year and will launch it in the United States this year. The company is also developing sensor technology to connect the dots.
Building homes smarter is one of the key solutions on which Bosch is putting more emphasis. According to the company’s recent estimate, around 15 per cent of all households worldwide – some 230 million homes – will be equipped with smart-home technology by the end of this decade. 
Struth said his company wanted to turn the home into a personal assistant and make a broad range of devices people’s partners in the household.
Mykie is a good example of this and is also being demonstrated at CES 2017, which kicked off yesterday and runs until Sunday. Mykie is a personal assistant for the kitchen to help users cook with “Smart Recipe Guidance”, a voice-controlled step-by-step guide through recipes. 
Smart cities are also on the agenda. By 2050, more than 6 billion people worldwide will be living in urban areas. With the movement of population to more dense metropolitan areas, the concept of personalised services will play a critical role in enhancing their quality of life. 
For example, Bosch is developing a “smart-community app” for residents in San Francisco. The app provides localised, real-time information on public transport as well as access to intelligent surveillance solutions.
At CES 2017, Bosch is also presenting its new IoT gateway. It shows how operators of older manufacturing systems can connect their machines, and monitor them in real time. This enables predictive maintenance, which in turn increases productivity and thus saves costs.
Connected mobility is another area where the company has put more effort as the global market for this is estimated to grow by nearly 25 per cent per year over the next five years. 
At the show, the company is demonstrating how drivers can communicate with connected cars and how the car can interact with smart homes and smart cities. A new driver-monitoring camera will be demonstrated. With this new feature, when the driver is in his or her seat, the camera automatically adjusts the car’s settings to his personal preferences.