Stuttgart – Bosch has set up a new company, Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions GmbH, for the internet of things and services: the company will supply compact electronic products and software expertise designed to make devices and objects intelligent and web-enabled across a broad range of applications. It will initially focus on sensor-based applications for intelligently networked homes, or “smart homes,” as well as for activities in the fields of traffic, transportation, and logistics.
“From vehicles and smart phones to containers and machines – by 2015 more than six billion things will be connected to the internet. Entirely new services will emerge that will transform people’s everyday lives and open up huge new business opportunities. These services will rely on the smart networking of devices within wider systems,” says Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. “Setting up Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions is a key strategic step in our plans to expand our portfolio for the internet of things and services.”
Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions GmbH is headquartered in Reutlingen and will also have sites in Coimbatore, India, and Suzhou, China. It specializes in the development of networked sensors and actuators. Actuators convert electrical signals from sensors or control units into a physical action, such as automatically switching a light on and off or opening and closing a valve.
Tiny components of the connected world
Tiny MEMS sensors with their microscopically fine structures can be used to measure acceleration, air pressure, the earth’s magnetic field, yaw rate, noise, or temperature. The sensors can be intelligently programmed using software algorithms and equipped with microcontrollers, miniature batteries, and tiny radio chips, enabling them to process measurement data and send it over the internet to other devices, such as a user’s smart phone. In principle, this makes it possible to bring all the things that people use in their everyday lives online, gradually merging together the real and virtual worlds.
Building on many years of expertise in electronics and sensor technology
More than almost any other company, Bosch can draw on many years of expertise in the development and manufacture of electronics and sensor technology. As the world’s largest supplier of MEMS sensors in terms of sales revenue, Bosch produces more than one billion micromechanical sensors a year for the automotive and consumer electronics markets.
“The introduction of MEMS sensors in automotive electronics in the 1980s and 1990s marked the first wave of growth. The second major wave has been their widespread incorporation in smart phones, tablets, and games consoles since the beginning of the 21st century – and the internet of things and services now heralds the third wave. We’re convinced that it will far surpass the first two waves,” Denner says. “Sensors, signal processing, batteries, and transmitters have become so small, energy efficient, and inexpensive – even as all-in-one units – that they can be used in their billions. And at the same time radio networks are now available almost everywhere.”
Multiple applications for greater comfort, security, and efficiency
Using a combination of sensors and software, a smart home can, for instance, detect that the windows upstairs are open and link this piece of information to a weather forecast from the internet. To protect the house from an approaching storm, the system would be able to automatically close the windows and lower the shutters. Meanwhile, “smart plugs” can be used to switch a nursery’s irrigation system on and off depending on the soil’s moisture content. Sensors integrated in packages and consignments of goods can be used to monitor their transportation. The data shows whether the goods have been handled roughly, dropped, left out in the rain, or exposed to unusual temperatures, so responsibilities can be correctly assigned at all times. And if a consignment disappears, the recorded geodata allow the route it took to be easily tracked. With the rapid increase of internet commerce, this is a fast growing market.
Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions at CES 2014
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014 in Las Vegas, Bosch will be presenting many of the possibilities for the home offered by the internet of things and services. Combined in a radio-enabled network, multiple sensors will continuously read and transmit information on their immediate environment. This will enable authorized users to find out which doors are open or closed, how noisy it is, and how the temperature, pressure, and humidity have varied over the course of the day at different points in the booth. This combination of sensors will turn the Bosch trade fair booth into a showcase for devices that maintain radio contact and exchange information with each other.
Further information is available online
Bosch at the 2014 CES in Las Vegas, January 7-10 Tiny Bosch sensors for the connected life
Open standard for the Smart Home of the future
Sensors – how technology maps the world around it
Bosch booth at the 2014 CES
Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center (LVCC),
South Hall 1, Stand 20812
Bosch events at the 2014 CES
Press conference with Bosch board of management member
Dr. Werner Struth: Monday, January 6, 2014, 8 a.m. (Las Vegas local time),
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Level 3 – Banyan Ballrooms A-D,
3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South.
Panel discussion with Bosch board of management member Dr. Dirk Hoheisel: “Road to Driverless Mobility”: Tuesday, January 7, 2014,
3:00 p.m. (local time), Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall, Room N262.
Speech by Dr. Stefan Finkbeiner, Managing Director, Bosch Sensortec:
“Hardware-software co-design: the secret to sensor fusion” (as part of the “MEMS sensor fusion – revolutionizing the internet of things” session, Wednesday, January 8, 2014, 2:25-2:50 p.m. (Las Vegas local time),
Las Vegas Convention Center, Room N261, North Hall.
Click here to find further information.
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In fiscal 2012, its roughly 306,000 associates generated sales of 52.5 billion euros. Since the beginning of 2013, its operations have been divided into four business sectors: Automotive Technology, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 360 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 50 countries. If its sales and service partners are included, then Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Bosch spent some 4.8 billion euros for research and development in 2012, and applied for nearly 4,800 patents worldwide. The Bosch Group’s products and services are designed to fascinate, and to improve the quality of life by providing solutions which are both innovative and beneficial. In this way, the company offers technology worldwide that is “Invented for life.”
The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant up-front investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-two percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust. The remaining shares are held by the Bosch family and by Robert Bosch GmbH.
Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com and www.bosch-press.com, http://twitter.com/BoschPresse.
