Qualcomm Technologies Inc. today unveiled a number of advancements across artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and smart home ecosystems that enhance privacy, scalability and user experiences through a variety of means: edge processing, on-premises AI solutions and seamless device interoperability.

Leading the list of announcements at the CES consumer electronics show is the launch of Qualcomm’s new AI On-Prem Appliance Solution, a hardware platform designed for enterprises to run generative AI and computer vision workloads on-premises. The solution allows businesses to process sensitive data locally to deliver enhanced privacy, reduced latency and significant cost savings compared with cloud-based alternatives.

Scalable in design, the AI On-Prem Appliance Solution is being offered as on-premises desktops or wall-mounted hardware solutions that support a range of applications, including workflow automation and intelligent assistants. The solution also allows small and medium businesses, enterprises and industrial organizations to run custom and off-the-shelf AI applications on their premises, including generative workloads. Qualcomm says running AI inference on-premises can deliver significant savings in operational costs and overall total cost of ownership compared with renting third-party AI infrastructure.

The AI On-Prem Appliance Solution is paired with the Qualcomm AI Inference Suite, a suite of tools and application programming interfaces that can be used to operationalize AI across industries. With support for natural language processing, image generation and intelligent search, the suite allows enterprises to fine-tune AI applications to meet specific needs while maintaining control of proprietary data.

The first companies supporting Qualcomm AI On-Prem Appliance Solutions and the AI Inference Suite include Aetina Corp., Honeywell International Inc., and IBM Corp.

Honeywell is working with Qualcomm to design, evaluate and deploy AI workflow automation use cases powered by the AI On-Prem Appliance Solution and AI Inference Suite. Aetina Corp. has developed compact, wall-powered on-premises AI appliances equipped with scalable models. They include small language models, fine-tuned large language models and large multimodal models of up to 70 billion parameters, to enable real-time responses and advanced workflow automation.

Meanwhile, IBM is collaborating to bring its watsonx platform and Granite family of AI models for deployment on Qualcomm’s On-Prem AI appliances, supporting diverse enterprise and industrial applications in sectors such as automotive, retail, manufacturing and telecommunications.

Qualcomm Aware

Qualcomm introduced significant enhancements to its Qualcomm Aware Platform at CES, including new capabilities for IoT solutions across industries.

The platform now integrates observability, monitoring and geolocation services, enabling businesses to track the health, status and location of connected devices. By streamlining device management and adding cloud-based insights, Qualcomm Aware accelerates the development of intelligent IoT solutions tailored to specific industry needs.

A key feature of Qualcomm Aware is its ability to provide fine indoor positioning and real-time device monitoring, adding value to sectors such as logistics, retail, energy and robotics. Pre-integrated with select Qualcomm and third-party hardware, the platform allows enterprises to take preventative actions, optimize asset utilization and ensure device longevity through automatic firmware updates and diagnostics.

“The Qualcomm Aware Platform can help solve some of the most critical challenges in building, customizing and deploying intelligently connected solutions,” said Nakul Duggal, group general manager for automotive, industrial and embedded IoT and cloud computing at Qualcomm. “This highly integrated approach provides a simple way for enterprises to add value to devices through a comprehensive suite of cloud-based visibility insights, geolocation services and device management tools. These capabilities can be customized to meet specific industry needs.”

Smart home

Qualcomm’s smart home announcements at CES focused on a vision where AI-driven edge intelligence transforms everyday living. Central to its vision are innovations like AI chatbots for home appliances, interactive multimedia solutions and home service robots, technologies that focus on enhancing convenience, security and personalization by leveraging Qualcomm’s advanced chipsets and edge AI capabilities.

According to Qualcomm’s vision, an AI chatbot integrated into various home appliances can engage in real-time conversations and perform tasks like recipe recommendations, shopping list generation and ingredient ordering using computer vision. Differing from existing smart speakers such as Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa, the chatbot offers seamless interaction across multiple devices to create a cohesive and intelligent home ecosystem.

Smart TVs also got a look in, obtaining a major upgrade with Qualcomm’s Interactive Multimedia solution. Equipped with capabilities like real-time language translation, personalized content recommendations and AI-powered control, televisions powered by Qualcomm Interactive Multimedia act as central hubs for entertainment and smart home management. The TVs also include a camera and microphone to further expand their use cases into fields such as remote education and telemedicine.

Finally, Qualcomm is also upping its robot game, showing a Home Service Robot developed in collaboration with AI solution developers APLUX Holdings Corp. and Ti5 Technology Ltd.

The Home Service Robot integrates Qualcomm’s advanced AI chatbot technology with its robotics platform to support natural language processing and real-time interactions. The robot comes equipped with built-in cameras for machine vision, allowing it to distinguish objects, recognize faces and respond to voice commands with high precision. For example, it can identify a bottle of water versus a soft drink can when prompted, giving it versatility when performing household tasks.

Powered by the Qualcomm QCS8550 processor, the robot combines robust computing, sensing and decision-making capabilities to operate in complex environments. Whether assisting with daily chores, providing companionship or enhancing home security, Qualcomm claims, the Home Service Robot represents the future of AI-driven robotics in the smart home.

Images: Qualcomm