Siemens' CES showcase: Transforming industries with mixed reality, AI, and more
One fun thing about CES (aka, the Consumer Electronics Show) is that it's not all consumer or electronics.
In the case of industrial enterprise vendor Siemens, CES 2024 is an opportunity to showcase a wide range of technology innovations.
Also: CES 2024: What's next in tech
The company was kind enough to share its announcement plans ahead of time with ZDNET, and we chose the following items to spotlight. This will give you a good overview of the scope of what Siemens is doing, particularly in the area of industrial AI and mixed reality.
Mixed reality headset partnership with Sony
Siemens and Sony today announced that they're working together to produce a next-generation mixed-reality headset designed to utilize Siemens design tools like NX Immersive Designer. What caught my attention was that Sony used Siemens tools to design the headset, and liked them so much, they reached out to form this exclusive partnership.
Also: Sony and Siemens unleash the power of immersive engineering
Red Bull Racing partnership
Another company making active use of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio is Red Bull Racing. While the details are minimal, the companies report that they are showing "how this new solution empowers engineers to free them from traditional constraints to bring together the virtual and physical worlds by immersing them in the industrial metaverse."
Siemens Industrial Copilot
In another partnership, Siemens is working with Microsoft to bring Microsoft's generative AI assistant Copilot to industrial projects and processes. It's expected to help improve human-machine collaboration and boost manufacturing productivity.
Also: What are Microsoft's different Copilots?
The companies plan to add additional copilots for sectors including infrastructure, transportation, and health. Already the technology is in early adoption use by Schaeffler AG, a maker of rolling element bearings for automotive, aerospace, and industrial mechanisms. These are used in a wide range of applications to reduce radial friction and support radial and axial loads.
Increasing Amazon partnership
Mendix, an enterprise low-code vendor, was founded in 2005 in Rotterdam. In 2018, Siemens scooped up the company after using Mendix to build more than 450 specialized applications. Mendix is now part of the Xcelerator portfolio offered by Siemens.
At CES, Siemens and Amazon's AWS are announcing that they are "strengthening their partnership" to make it easier for any sized business to build and scale generative AI applications. The partnership involves the integration of Amazon Bedrock and Mendix. Think of Bedrock as generative AI as-a-service, a tool that lets developers use a variety of foundational models to build and customize specialty applications.
Also: Generative AI is a developer's delight. Now, let's find some other use cases
By combining the AI toolkit resources of Bedrock with the low-code approach of Mendix, it will be possible for developers to rapidly prototype low-code AI solutions, possibly cutting months or years off of the development cycle.
Affordable prosthetic arm
I describe the digital twin concept in some detail in my coverage of Sony's new mixed-reality headset. The idea is that it's a virtual replica of something that exists in the physical world. By using digital twins, engineers and scientists can simulate real-world conditions and then analyze the results, enabling them to optimize the design without the overall cost of producing numerous prototypes.
Siemens is showcasing how their Siemens Xcelerator portfolio and tools like the NX designer have helped scientists like Easton LaChappelle build products. In LaChapelle's case, he's the founder of a company called Unlimited Tomorrow, which makes affordable, lightweight, high-quality prostheses for children and adults.
The process involves a remote scan, 3D printing, custom engineering, and one-off design production, all of which result in a more comfortable limb while also reducing costs.
Intelligent habitat solutions
Siemens is presenting its smart home energy management solutions under the umbrella name Inhab. Three key components include a load manager that installs into your current electrical panel, smart circuit breakers, and an energy monitor app for managing and controlling it all.
Also: The best home EV chargers you can buy, according to experts
The company's focus is not just on controlling energy, but also on allowing homeowners greater visibility into patterns of energy consumption, which can lead to better decision-making over time. Siemens is laying the groundwork for homeowners who purchase electric vehicles and want to charge them in their garages or carports.
In addition to usage patterns, the system can also be programmed to provide a series of alerts based on a variety of designated conditions. This can keep the home safe, and also help reduce overall energy costs.
Tackling food insecurity
Blendhub is a fascinating story all on its own. The company uses shipping containers as food factories, pioneering the idea of food-as-a-service. The containers can be deployed worldwide to provide manufacturing services, creating customized ingredients for local food industries, customized food products for local needs, and high-nutrient value food products for populations in need of better nutrition.
At CES, Siemens is showcasing how it's equipping Blendhub with technology solutions that are key for automating and managing its portable food factories efficiently. Siemens further contributes to Blendhub's food production model by providing automation components like its TIA Process Control System, controllers, and motors; implementing Opcenter RD&L for lab management; and helping to implement a transition to the company's Teamcenter X product lifecycle management solution for global recipe management.
Intelligent predictive maintenance
Modern manufacturing is characterized by lots of machines and relatively few humans. The machines need to stay functional, be efficient, and produce quality work. The problem is that machines have moving parts, and over time those machines begin to break down or wear out.
Also: This company says AI can help design sustainable smart home appliances
Siemens is showcasing its Senseye technology, which uses AI to predict maintenance and upkeep requirements across factories. It combines the use of existing and new-generation sensors with AI insights, human insights, behavior models, and asset management to give managers a dynamic and even "see the future" view of factory performance.
More here on ZDNET
Be sure to poke around ZDNET for more coverage on CES 2024. My colleagues and I have spent quite a bit of time putting together a comprehensive series of articles to help you understand the product introductions and innovative tech coming out of Las Vegas, especially in light of the very hot topics of AI and mixed reality.
You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter on Substack, and follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.