Dr. Samarjit Das

Please tell us what fascinates you most about research.
A career in research is highly rewarding and daunting at the same time — just like an adventure into the unknown, an intellectual one. Growing up idolizing the great physicists, mathematicians, and inventors of the 20^th century, I could never imagine finding myself anywhere else other than a research lab. The joy of discovering new things, contributing to the tree of knowledge, and inventing things that inspire and improve the human condition fascinates me the most and motivates me every day to continue on my intellectual adventure.

What makes research carried out at Bosch so special?
Bosch is a place where engineering excellence meets scientific rigor and where transformative ideas are nurtured in an environment of intellectual freedom with a vision to improving lives around the world. It is rare to find a global research organization that brings together brilliant minds from all over the world working on inspiring as well as challenging topics all the way from quantum physics to cutting-edge AI research, to improving cancer diagnostics, to sustainable energy technologies of the future. All of these innovations are geared toward a singular vision — to improve the human condition, to improve lives around this planet, and that’s what makes research done at Bosch so special.

What research topics are you currently working on at Bosch?
Every “thing” talks — just in a different language. Everyday objects, physical processes and machines talk too — through the language of signals such as sound, vibrations, electromagnetic emissions, current, temperature, pressure and so forth. The broader vision of our work is to decode the “language of things” through deep signal analytics AI in contrast to, but inspired by AI’s successes in processing and understanding human languages. Over the years, we have pushed the boundaries of state-of-the-art in audio AI from basic research to commercialization — from deployment aboard the international space station (ISS) to releasing first audio AI product from Bosch. Now, we are leveraging our expertise at the intersection of signal processing and AI to build novel multi-signal foundation models to realize our aforementioned vision. We call our envisioned technology Signal SuperSensing or S3. These AI capabilities augment traditional signal processing in novel ways to enhance robust signal pattern recognition/detection as well as extract deeper insights from signals with rich natural language-like interpretation, reasoning, interaction in a manner never possible before. S3 will enable a diverse array of new business applications ranging from enhanced UX, process/infrastructure monitoring to advanced perception and reasoning capabilities for future mobility solutions, consumer products and healthcare a like.

What are the biggest scientific challenges in your field of research?
The biggest challenge in our research field revolves around a simple but profound question: What information is (actually) contained (hidden) in a transducer signal? How can we push the boundaries of what is possible to be sensed beyond physical sensor design expectations? Is there more than meets the classical “measurement and instrumentation” eye? To that end, we are developing AI-augmented sensing capabilities empowered by cross-modal/cross-spectral signal representation learning and signal-to-signal translation leveraging state-of-the-art foundation AI models. One of the key challenges that we are addressing is how to harness the power of large language models (LLMs) to interpret the abstract “language of signals” (as opposed to human language) and reason over them by leveraging LLMs’ broad knowledge of the world, common sense reasoning, and analytical abilities, and thereby unleash a whole new world of innovation opportunities around deep signal analytics AI.

How do the results of your research become part of solutions “Invented for life”?
Our work has literally lived up to the motto: “invented for life” — here on earth and beyond! The SoundSee technology has been commercialized and is being deployed in US schools, universities, and businesses to promptly detect life-threatening events, such as gunshots, and save lives. Beyond earth, aboard the International Space Station, our novel audio AI technology was used to investigate autonomous monitoring of critical machines and equipment, such as life support systems, with a view to improving safety and station operations. Overall, I am very passionate about driving my research toward bringing societal benefits (e.g., healthcare and well-being). In that regard, I led the Bosch-Highmark Health research partnership towards bringing novel AI-empowered sensing technologies to improve diagnostic capabilities in pediatric respiratory care.