Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, and NAVER Corporation, a global internet company with top-notch AI technology, today announced a wide-reaching collaboration to develop semiconductor solutions tailored for hyperscale artificial intelligence (AI) models. Leveraging Samsung’s next-generation memory technologies like computational storage, processing-in-memory (PIM) and processing-near-memory (PNM), as well as Compute Express Link (CXL), the companies intend to pool their hardware and software resources to dramatically accelerate the handling of massive AI workloads.

Recent advances in hyperscale AI have led to an exponential growth in data volumes that need to be processed. However, the performance and efficiency limitations of current computing systems pose significant challenges in meeting these heavy computational requirements, fueling the need for new AI-optimized semiconductor solutions.

Developing such solutions requires an extensive convergence of semiconductor and AI disciplines. Samsung is combining its semiconductor design and manufacturing expertise with NAVER’s experience in the development and verification of AI algorithms and AI-driven services, to create solutions that take the performance and power efficiency of large-scale AI to a new level.

For years, Samsung has been introducing memory and storage that support high-speed data processing in AI applications, from computational storage (SmartSSD) and PIM-enabled high bandwidth memory (HBM-PIM) to next-generation memory supporting the Compute Express Link (CXL) interface. Samsung will now join with NAVER to optimize these memory technologies in advancing large-scale AI systems.

NAVER will continue to refine HyperCLOVA, a hyperscale language model with over 200 billion parameters, while improving its compression algorithms to create a more simplified model that significantly increases computation efficiency.

“Through our collaboration with NAVER, we will develop cutting-edge semiconductor solutions to solve the memory bottleneck in large-scale AI systems,” said Jinman Han, Executive Vice President of Memory Global Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. “With tailored solutions that reflect the most pressing needs of AI service providers and users, we are committed to broadening our market-leading memory lineup including computational storage, PIM and more, to fully accommodate the ever-increasing scale of data.”

“Combining our acquired knowledge and know-how from HyperCLOVA with Samsung’s semiconductor manufacturing prowess, we believe we can create an entirely new class of solutions that can better tackle the challenges of today’s AI technologies,” said Suk Geun Chung, Head of NAVER CLOVA CIC. “We look forward to broadening our AI capabilities and bolstering our edge in AI competitiveness through this strategic partnership.”

With increasing popularity in research studies about future AI technology, there is an even higher expectation that AI will bring more value to our daily lives. On November 8 and 9, Samsung Electronics hosted the Samsung AI Forum 2022 to share the progress of AI research and explore more ways for the industry to advance. World-renowned scholars and experts who attended this year’s forum focused on hyperscale AI, an AI model that can evolve to the human level of thinking by processing massive amounts of data.

Samsung Newsroom met with Vice President Joohyung Lee at Samsung Research’s¹ Global AI Center to hear more about the main topics discussed during the second day of the forum, which Samsung Research hosted. Learn more about upcoming technology trends and the future vision of AI research introduced by Samsung Research in the infographic below.

​¹ Samsung Research, acting as Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, leads the development of future technologies for the company’s Device eXperience (DX) Division.

CVPR is a world-renowned international Artificial Intelligence (AI) conference co-hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Computer Vision Foundation (CVF) which has been running since 1983. CVPR is widely considered to be one of the three most significant international conferences in the field of computer vision, alongside the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) and the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV). CVPR 2022 will be held as a hybrid event, both in-person and online, from June 19 to 24 in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S..

Of the thesis papers submitted by Samsung Research, two papers submitted by its Toronto AI Center were selected for oral presentations. Opportunities to give oral presentations at CVPR 2022 are extended to the top 4-5% of the total number of papers submitted. For Samsung’s Toronto AI Center, this is the second time in two years they have earned such a chance, as they were also selected for oral presentation in 2020.

The first of these two oral presentations from the Toronto AI Center will focus on their paper “P³IV: Probabilistic Procedure Planning from Instructional Videos with Weak Supervision”, a study done on how to build next-level AI systems capable of analyzing and mimicking human behavior. Procedure planning is gaining attention in the field, as it could lead to technologies capable of assisting humans in solving goal-directed problems, such as cooking food or installing and repairing devices.

The research team’s approach undercuts the previous requirement of costly data annotations that the start and end times of each intermediate instructional step were labeled with. Instead, the new approach allows AI to learn from natural language instructions, sourced from the internet for example, and predict the intermediate steps. Additionally, the model is enhanced with a probabilistic generative module to handle the uncertainty inherent to procedural planning.

▲ A section from the presentation for “P³IV: Probabilistic Procedure Planning from Instructional Videos with Weak Supervision” by the Toronto AI Center

The second oral presentation to be given by the Toronto AI Center is a study on “Day-to-Night Image Synthesis for Training Nighttime Neural ISPs”. This study is focused on how to synthesize the nighttime image data needed to train Night Mode using neural Image Signal Processors (ISPs) on smartphone cameras. This technology converts clear daytime images — which are much easier to capture than nighttime images — into nighttime image pairs, a strategy that demonstrates performance on par with training on real data captured at night.

▲ A visual from “Day-to-Night Image Synthesis for Training Nighttime Neural ISPs” by the Toronto AI Center

Innovative Approaches Spanning Samsung Research’s Global AI Centers

As well as the two thesis papers submitted by the Toronto AI Center, other global Samsung AI centers — such as the Moscow AI Center, the Cambridge AI Center and the New York AI Center — have also attracted academic attention in anticipation of the conference.

Two papers submitted by the Moscow AI Center were accepted into the conference. The first is a study on what is currently the world’s most competitive Single-View Depth Estimation (SVDE). This study on depth estimation — a research area that concerns many forms of image manipulation, generation and analysis — has gained attention due to its high accuracy. Unlike its predecessors which require resource-intensive post-processing, the proposed GP2 (General-Purpose and Geometry-Preserving) SVDE approach demonstrates outstanding capabilities without the need for this post-processing.

The second paper, “Stereo Magnification with Multi-Layer Images”, is a study of a novel method of 3D photo synthesis. Unlike existing methods of 3D photo synthesis, which necessitate high-capacity memory and processing abilities, the method championed in this paper can be applied to mobile devices as well, thanks to a drastically increased memory efficiency which has not caused accuracy or processing effectiveness to suffer.

The Cambridge AI Center’s paper on “Gaussian Process Modeling of Approximate Inference Errors for Variational Autoencoders” achieves state-of-the-art performance by proposing a novel Gaussian Process (GP) modeling method. This enables test time inference using a single feed forward pass in Variational Autoencoder (VAE).

They also introduced the paper titled “Pushing the Limits of Simple Pipelines for Few-Shot Learning: External Data and Fine-Tuning Make a Difference”. In this paper, the research team proposes a novel neural network based on innovative transformer architecture for the few-shot learning which is a representative method for dealing with situations where data has scarce labelling.

These achievements, among many others, help emphasize Samsung Research’s position in the world of AI research and in the field of computer vision. Other papers that were accepted for CVPR 2022 include works submitted by Samsung Research’s Platform Team and Samsung R&D Institute India’s Virtual Intelligence Team.

Samsung Research operates AI centers in seven different regions; Korea (Seoul), the U.S. (Silicon Valley and New York), Canada (Toronto and Montreal), the U.K. (Cambridge) and Russia (Moscow). Going forward, Samsung will continue to conduct advanced research and actively push innovation in the AI field.

¹ Samsung Research, acting as Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, leads the development of future technologies for the company’s Device eXperience (DX) Division.

Both sessions at the Forum featured talks from experts across academia and industry who specialize in next-generation communications technologies, and featured topics covering the present state and ambitious future of 6G.

Read on for Samsung Newsroom’s recap of the Forum and the areas of research that took center stage at the first-ever Samsung 6G Forum.

Sebastian Seung, President and Head of Samsung Research, gives the opening speech at Samsung 6G Forum.

Sebastian Seung, President and Head of Samsung Research,¹ opened up the Forum by sharing Samsung’s vision for the next-generation of communications technologies. “We envision that 6G will provide the ultimate in experiences through the next level of hyper-connectivity, and this idea serves as the foundation of our 6G vision,” noted Seung. “We believe that it is the right time to start preparing for 6G. Shaping 6G will require many years, as we have seen with previous generations, and will need lots of discussion and collaboration among players in industry as well as academia.”

Setting the tone for the rest of the day, Seung went on to express his confidence in 6G’s potential to become a fundamental technology that drives a convergence of services between industries and will be ultra-wideband, ultra-low latency, ultra-intelligent and hyperspatial, as well as opening up whole new realm of connectivity.

6G Air Interface: Relentless Innovation of Wireless Technologies and United Efforts To Secure New Spectrum Opportunities

Jeffrey Andrews, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, delivers his keynote for the morning session of Samsung 6G Forum.

Opening up the morning session of the 6G Forum, Jeffrey Andrews, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, delivered a keynote speech titled ‘Deep Learning in the 6G Air Interface’. This keynote saw Andrews focus on the role of machine learning in next-generation communication, including how 6G communication can improve the performance of air interface through deep learning as well as how more deeply-penetrated machine learning might be expected to transcend the current limits of 5G technologies. “In order to successfully apply machine learning to 6G as well as 5G, it is of course necessary for us to understand both wireless communications and machine learning fundamentals,” emphasized Professor Andrews. “It is essential for us to work together in order to make progress on this topic and do novel work.”

The keynote speech was followed by a series of in-depth expert talks, the first of which was given by Charlie Zhang, Senior Vice President (SVP) at Samsung Research America and titled ‘Radio Technology Evolution for Beyond 5G and 6G’. SVP Zhang introduced the R&D progress for the possible wireless technologies of 6G communication and presented two new 6G spectrum opportunities that are currently being investigated: an upper mid-band of 7-24 GHz and an enormous sub-terahertz band of 92-300 GHz. “Both options provide us with a very good opportunity to find enough capacity for all these exciting 6G services,” noted SVP Zhang. He then also detailed how sub-terahertz band has been tested in the field by his team as well as introduced advanced duplex technology called XDD for coverage enhancement and innovations in distributed MIMO. He concluded with an enthusiastic reiteration of the value of cooperation, emphasizing the need for collaboration between institutions, companies and countries necessary to bring about future innovations.

Takehiro Nakamura, SVP and General Manager at NTT DOCOMO, delivers an online talk titled ‘5G Evolution and 6G’.

The second expert talk was given by Takehiro Nakamura, SVP and General Manager at NTT DOCOMO under the title of ‘5G Evolution and 6G’. As well as discussing the global growth seen recently into 5G and 6G research, SVP Nakamura expressed his opinions on performance improvement in the case of Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) technology being applied in 5G and 6G communications. “6G networks can perform as human nerves,” detailed SVP Nakamura regarding the potential of IOWN technologies applied for 6G. “They can augment and extend human capabilities. If we can share body movement, the five senses and emotions through 6G networks, we can realize very interesting and exciting new services which were described as science fiction.”

John Smee, SVP of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., presents his talk at Samsung 6G Forum.

The third expert talk of the morning session was conducted by John Smee, SVP of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., on the topic of ‘Driving Air Interface Innovation Toward 6G’. SVP Smee carefully detailed how technological innovations will pave the path to a 6G world. “When we take a step back and imagine the world in 2030, it’s really about understanding changing the physical world and many different types of devices that we will have connected,” he explained. SVP Smee highlighted six key research vectors in particular: artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)-powered E2E communications, spectrum expansion and sharing, new radio designs, communications resiliency, scalable network architecture and the merging of worlds.

Juho Lee, Fellow at Samsung Research, leads a panel discussion around 6G RAN technology.

Following the presentations, Juho Lee, Fellow at Samsung Research, led a panel discussion on 6G RAN technology. The seven key themes addressed by the panel were the strengths of 6G over 5G, the killer applications for 6G, the relationship between 5G-Advanced and 6G, the performance requirements for 6G wireless technologies, the spectrum for 6G, wireless technologies for 6G and the potential of AI for air interfaces. “Securing new spectrum is one of the most important elements for research and development of the 6G air interface technology,” noted Lee. “Without the new spectrum, it will be difficult to build a next-generation system.”

Sunghyun Choi, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of Advanced Communications Research Center at Samsung Research shares Samsung’s latest 6G research results.

The morning session was then concluded by Sunghyun Choi, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of Advanced Communications Research Center at Samsung Research, who shared the most recent results of Samsung’s research into key 6G candidate technologies along with demonstration videos.

Intelligent Network for 6G: Native AI Support for Next-Generation Communications

The afternoon session commenced with a keynote speech from Tarik Taleb, Professor at University of Oulu, Finland, under the title of ‘6G Networking — The Journey Towards a Novel Vision of “Service of Services”’. In his keynote, Professor Taleb advocated for the use of AI, network function, virtualization, software-defined networking and edge/cloud computing in order to reduce expenditure and operational costs, and proposed that 6G should be viewed as a new service concept beyond next-generation communications. “I would like to share the view of this journey which I think is going to lead us to another vision of 6G as being a service of services, rather than what is known as 6G being a network of networks.”

Following the keynote, Seungjoo Maeng, Master at Samsung Electronics, gave a talk on ‘Challenges in Applying AI/ML Technology to Improve Performance of Mobile Communication Systems’. In his talk, Master Maeng highlighted some of the challenges that might arise when AI/ML technologies are applied to 6G, and went on to propose some potential solutions. Master Maeng also concluded that collaboration among experts is the key to solve the issues of applying AI/ML technologies to 6G: “Experts should work closely together to develop meaningful and efficient technologies,” he said. “Working together is the key for successful technology development.”

The next talk was given by Byonghyo Shim, Professor at Seoul National University, under the theme of ‘Deep Learning-Aided Mobile Detection and Beamforming for mmWave and THz Communications’. The talk presented a new paradigm for mmWave and THz communications based on deep learning (DL). “Down the road we’ll have more emerging applications, like AR, VR, XR and metaverse, to name just a few and they require further increase of data rate,” noted Professor Shim. “Deep learning would contribute for improving the performance of beamforming that is the essential technology for high frequency band used to increase the data rate when it comes to supporting emerging applications.”

The final talk of the day was given by Shi Jin, Professor at Southeast University, China. In his talk, titled ‘Deep Learning-based CSI Feedback in Massive MIMO Systems’, Professor Jin highlighted the challenges inherent to applying AI/ML technologies to massive MIMO systems as well as the ways that could solve them. “In the past 10 years, deep learning has achieved great success in many areas,” noted Professor Jin. “Inspired by this success, deep learning has been introduced in wireless communications and our work — deep learning-based CSI feedback — has become a popular topic in 6G research.”

Following the afternoon sessions’ talks, EVP Choi led a panel discussion on network AI that saw the Forum’s experts share their opinions on the way AI technologies are being investigated actively in 6G research and development. The participants also shared their thoughts on the research direction for AI in 6G on the topics of native AI, cost issues, interoperability, standardization of technologies for support of AI and reliable AI.

Tarik Taleb, Professor at University of Oulu, Finland, takes part in the Samsung 6G Forum’s afternoon panel discussion.

The panel discussion also saw the participants deal with the challenges surrounding the commercialization of 6G, their predictions for the future of AI/ML technologies in 6G and, more generally, what needs to be prepared for realizing 6G. “We need to define all the KPIs, accuracy and reliability of AI models in order to get into standardization of the technologies required for support of AI,” noted Professor Taleb, who also emphasized the need for digital twins and simulators for the benchmarking of AI models. Professor Shim also advocated for the importance of collaboration in this process, noting that: “in order to standardize the technologies required for truly using AI in 6G, cooperation based on consensus across companies is key.”

At the inaugural Samsung 6G Forum, the thoughts and experiences that were shared by experts around the current status and future of 6G provided a glimpse into the future of 6G that Samsung, along with industry experts, academics and partners, is working hard to realize. Stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for all the latest news on the next generation of communications technologies.

Key Takeaways From the Samsung 6G Forum’s Speakers

¹ Samsung Research, acting as Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, leads the development of future technologies for the company’s Device eXperience (DX) Division.

Samsung Electronics announced that the company hosts its first-ever Samsung 6G Forum (S6GF) online today.

Under the theme of ‘The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All.’, the forum is divided into two sessions and broadcasts live online via Samsung’s YouTube channel. Each session consists of talks by experts from academia and industry specializing in next-generation communications technologies, followed by a panel discussion.

“We envision that 6G will provide ultimate experiences for humans and everything through the next level of hyper-connectivity, and this idea serves as the foundation of our 6G vision,” said Sebastian Seung, President and Head of Samsung Research.¹ “We believe that it is the right time to start preparing for 6G. Shaping 6G will require many years, as we have seen with previous generations, and will need lots of discussion and collaborations among players in industry and academia.”

Morning Session — 6G Air Interface 

The morning session is held under the theme, ‘6G Air Interface’. In this session, Jeffrey Andrews, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin gives a keynote speech, titled ‘Deep Learning in the 6G Air Interface’, highlighting that deep learning (DL) will be a key technology enabling 6G, which can provide important advances at many layers of the air interface.

Following the keynote speech, Charlie Zhang, Senior Vice President (SVP) at Samsung Research America, Takehiro Nakamura, SVP and General Manager at NTT DOCOMO and John Smee, SVP of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. give in-depth expert talks.

SVP Charlie Zhang of Samsung Research America makes a presentation on ‘Radio Technology Evolution for Beyond 5G and 6G’. He presents that while 6G technologies are still in their early days, a few emerging directions are taking shape and gaining momentum in academia and industry alike, including the support of a new spectrum such as upper mid-band in the range of 7-24 GHz and Terahertz (THz) band, novel antenna technologies, the evolution of duplex technology and network topology, spectrum sharing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a native part of the protocol design, etc.

SVP Takehiro Nakamura of NTT DOCOMO talks on ‘5G Evolution and 6G’, highlighting the research focused on technologies and services for 5G evolution and 6G is accelerating throughout the world. SVP John Smee of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. talks about ‘Driving Air Interface Innovation Toward 6G’, emphasizing the advanced wireless research and development along multiple vectors that will bring disruptive innovations and push technology boundaries to enable new and enhanced user experiences with 6G.

Following the presentations, Juho Lee, Fellow at Samsung Research, leads a panel discussion on 6G RAN technology. Afterward, Sunghyun Choi, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of Advanced Communications Research Center at Samsung Research, shares Samsung’s progress in 6G research along with demo videos.

Afternoon Session — Intelligent Network for 6G

The afternoon session goes under the theme, ‘Intelligent Network for 6G’. Tarik Taleb, Professor at University of Oulu, Finland, starts off with a keynote speech regarding ‘6G Networking — The Journey Towards a Novel Vision of “Service of Services”’. He highlights that AI, Network Function Virtualization, Software-Defined Networking and Edge/Cloud computing brought significant benefits in terms of reducing expenditure and operational costs, flexibility in deployment and faster time to market, and mentions that 6G will likely enable a new breeze of cloud-native mobile networking.

Following the keynote speech, Seungjoo Maeng, Master at Samsung Electronics, Byonghyo Shim, Professor at Seoul National University and Shi Jin, Professor at Southeast University, China deliver in-depth expert talks.

Master Seungjoo Maeng of Samsung Electronics talks about ‘Challenges in Applying AI/ML Technology to Improve Performance of Mobile Communication Systems’, highlighting the challenges in applying AI and ML (Machine Learning) to improve the performance of wireless mobile communication systems and how to solve them.

Professor Byonghyo Shim of Seoul National University gives a talk on ‘Deep Learning-Aided Mobile Detection and Beamforming for mmWave and THz Communications’, presenting the new paradigm to control mmWave and THz communications based on DL. Professor Shi Jin of Southeast University, China introduces ‘Deep Learning-based CSI Feedback in Massive MIMO Systems’, discussing challenges and potential research directions associated with implementing DL-based CSI (channel state information) feedback in future wireless communication systems.

After these presentations, EVP Sunghyun Choi of Samsung Research leads a panel discussion on network AI.

For more information on ‘Samsung Tech Forum’, please visit Samsung Research website at research.samsung.com.

¹ Samsung Research, acting as Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, leads the development of future technologies for the company’s DX (Device eXperience) Division.

Steven Macenski, Samsung Research America

In his recent paper, Macenski introduced ROS2’s architecture and current state-of-the-art technologies along with its various use cases in ground, sea and air. Especially, Macenski covered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s VIPER² Lunar project which will be launched by November in 2023, with respect to its ongoing ROS2-based simulation, operation and ground-based perception technology. The paper clearly and thoroughly explains the technologies of ROS2, an open-source software development kit for robotics applications, so many researchers and developers can refer to it in future work.

While collaborating on the development of robotics software technologies in ROS2, Macenski represents Samsung Electronics as an Open Source Maintainer responsible for the review and approval of source code as well as regular releases. He also participates as a board member of the Technical Steering Committee (TSC), ROS2’s top decision-making body. More notably, Macenski has won the annual Best Developer Award for ROS2 for two consecutive years since 2020. The TSC includes more than 20 major companies around the world, including Samsung Electronics, Open Robotics, Toyota, Intel, Wind River, iRobot and Bosch.

For his Science Robotics paper, Macenski teamed up with research luminaries in ROS2, such as the CEO of Open Robotics Brian Gerkey and ROS2’s guru-level developer Tully Foote.

¹ Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, which leads the development of future technologies for its Device eXperience division

² Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is a lunar rover developed by NASA and is currently planned to be delivered to the surface of the Moon in November 2023.

As anticipation and competition ramp up around the development of 6G technology, Samsung Electronics is set to hold its first-ever Samsung 6G Forum on May 13. Under the theme of ‘The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All.’, leading global experts from academia and industry in the area of next-generation communications technologies will be discussing the future of those technologies that are set to drive significant changes.

In order to introduce some of the technologies being prepared by Samsung ahead of the upcoming Forum, Samsung Newsroom undertook a virtual roundtable with Samsung Research’s¹ leading experts in the field. Sunghyun Choi, Executive Vice President and Head of the Advanced Communications Research Center at Samsung Research, and Charlie Zhang, Senior Vice President at Samsung Research America, came together virtually to share some of their most recent research and breakthroughs within the 6G communications technologies, as well as what they anticipate the future of the field will look like. The virtual roundtable was moderated by Jaebum Park, researcher at Samsung Research’s 6G Research Team.

Read on to learn more about the groundbreaking work Samsung Research has been undertaking in order to prepare for the next generation of communications technologies.

Jaebum Park Welcome and thank you to both of you for joining this online roundtable. Firstly, as are all well aware, the competition surrounding the development of 6G technologies has steadily been increasing. After accomplishing the world’s first commercialization of 5G, Samsung is now working hard at its research and development (R&D) into 6G. Why is this 6G R&D so important?

Sunghyun Choi 6G is the next-generation communications technology that will bring huge changes to every aspect of our lives, as well as to various industries. It requires prolonged effort and investment to bring about. Samsung is striving to lead 6G R&D and standardization, with the goal of bringing next-level, hyper-connected experiences to our customers.

Park In July 2020, Samsung released a white paper entitled “The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All.” which outlined the company’s vision for 6G. Can you tell us more about the technologies Samsung currently is working on to realize this vision?

Choi 6G is expected to be characterized by ultra-wideband, ultra-low latency, ultra-intelligence and hyper-spatialization. Unlike communications technologies of previous generations, 6G is expected to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) technology. To this end, Samsung is developing a range of innovative solutions; an AI based technology that reduces power consumption at base stations, and a technology that utilizes AI at the receiver to compensate the signal distortion caused by the nonlinearity of a transmitter’s power amplifier and hence, can significantly improve the coverage and quality of high-rate data signals were both recently developed, for example. We have also seen growing demand for greater coverage.

In response to these requirements, Samsung proposes considering all available bands for 6G, from low-band under 1 gigahertz (GHz) to mid-band in the 1-24 GHz range and through to high-band in the 24-300 GHz range. We also need to consider the existing bands used for 3G, 4G and 5G networks. Higher bands tend to have a shorter transmission distance. In order to mitigate this issue, Samsung has developed solutions such as Cross Division Duplex (XDD) technology, whose standardization process is already underway, and is also pursuing the development of technologies such as Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), which improves beam sharpness and can steer or reflect the wireless signal to a desired direction by use of a metamaterial surface.

The Samsung Research Advanced Communications Research Center in fact recently published a white paper, entitled “6G Spectrum: Expanding the Frontier” which includes ways to obtain the spectrum needed to achieve the company’s 6G vision. We are also closely working with leading global experts from academia and industry in the area of next-generation communications technologies.

Park The white paper lays out the company’s vision for securing global frequency bands for 6G. I have heard that Samsung Research America, along with Samsung Research and researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), recently managed to successfully demonstrate wireless communications in the terahertz (THz) band which is one of the candidate bands for 6G.

Charlie Zhang The THz spectrum covers from 100 GHz to 10 THz. Our team was responsible for building a proof-of-concept (PoC) prototype system able to demonstrate the potential of the THz spectrum, including related distance, data rate, RF (Radio Frequency) and baseband system capacity.

In collaboration with Professor Mark Rodwell’s research team at UCSB and the Samsung Research team based in Korea, in 2021, we succeeded in demonstrating 6G THz wireless communication with phased-array beamforming capability.

Even though we still have a long way to go to improve the performance, this achievement of phased-array beamforming at a long distance is an important milestone for THz research as it demonstrated the clear potential of the THz spectrum for future cellular communication.

Park The commercial launch of 6G is not expected to occur soon. However, the competition surrounding the development of 6G technologies has steadily been increasing. What would you characterize as Samsung’s unique advantages when it comes to developing these next-generation technologies?

Choi Samsung is a company that offers a wide variety of products, ranging from smartphones and base stations to chipsets – something that it is not at all common in the industry. Furthermore, in April 2019, Samsung was among the first to realize the commercialization of 5G. Samsung also has a strong track record of having led technology standardization with its partners for many years at the telecommunications standards organization that develops unified global standards for mobile telecommunications, the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

Zhang In order to accelerate the development process of the next generation telecommunications system to the point where it can become a commercial reality, development and utilization of various technologies are key, and at Samsung Research, we are very happy to see that many partners are joining us in these efforts. Samsung Research was one of the first research institutes in the world to publish a 6G vision white paper. Following on from our previous collaborations, we will continue, along with various partners, to identify key solutions in order to successfully commercialize 6G technology.

Park I understand that the standardization of 6G technology is expected to begin around 2025. Could you please introduce the standardization process and the work that needs to be done to successfully achieve 6G standardization?

Choi The future of communications technology will be defined by its ability to bring the next hyper-connected experience to all. Communications technologies enable human-to-human, human-to-machine and machine-to-machine connections. To connect different devices or machines, we need the same standard of communications across the board, and the process to set this standard is called ‘standardization.’ To standardize the communications technologies, the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), an agency of the United Nations, first defines the technical requirements, which is then followed by the work of organizations such as 3GPP to establish technical standards according to these requirements. The standard for a new generation of communications technology is developed through the process of submitting proposals and reaching the consensus among constituting members.

While it is essential to develop outstanding technologies, it is also important to form a consensus on 6G technologies in the standardization process. As part of this effort, Samsung is holding its first-ever Samsung 6G Forum on May 13, which will see leading experts from all over the world in the mobile communications field gather to discuss 6G.

Park Can you please elaborate more on what we can expect from Samsung’s first-ever 6G Forum?

Choi The upcoming Samsung 6G Forum will be a sphere within which the world’s top experts in the field can set the tone for the future of 6G. We are set to have presentations and panel discussions on the topic of 6G air interface in the morning, and will then hold presentations and panel discussions about AI-based intelligent networks for 6G in the afternoon. Anyone interested in 6G technologies is able to participate in the Forum through online pre-registration.

Zhang At the 6G Forum, Samsung will be demonstrating some of the 6G candidate technologies that it has been developing over the past three years, as well as the company’s vision for future technology development. Although there is still a long road ahead of us before we achieve 6G commercialization, I believe that the hyper-connected experiences across all areas of life that 6G is set to bring us will become a reality sooner rather than later by bringing together industry, academia and research experts regularly through the opportunities like Samsung 6G Forum.

Park These days, the term ‘6G’ is a commonly known one. The general gist of what the 6G era will bring includes communications speed increases and mobile-based virtual reality experiences, changes that will totally transform users’ daily lives. I am curious what you, as two leaders in 6G research and development, have to say about what the biggest changes are set to be for this era?

Choi From my perspective, the era of 6G is set to connect as many as 500 billion devices, resulting in the vehicles, appliances and even the buildings around us being connected to this super-fast communications network.

Samsung Research defines the biggest changes in three ways: firstly, services such as truly-immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile holograms and digital replicas will be possible. Secondly, the performance of telecommunications networks is set to improve greatly thanks to the implementation of AI technologies. Finally, the connected experience offered to users will be available anytime and anywhere, from the Arctic to the Antarctic and from the ground to the sky.

Zhang Even now, limited XR devices and services such as VR and AR exist and digital replication technology is already being harnessed in industrial IoT. However, the limitations of hardware devices and communications performance mean that the utilization of these technologies is not high. In a world where 6G technology is universal, those truly-immersive XR and high-fidelity mobile holograms, as once seen only in science fiction movies, will become possible. Furthermore, by bringing together the virtual and real worlds, it will become possible to safely and easily address problems encountered in the real world.

Park What are your thoughts on the future direction of and your goals for 6G technology research?

Zhang At Samsung Research America, we will focus on undertaking research into how to successfully commercialize 6G technology along with our partners. Along with our research into THz, we are planning to continue our research to improve high-capacity data transmission and latency and to simplify future network deployment. Research collaboration with industry and academia will continue to accelerate the realization of the 6G vision of providing next-generation hyper-connected experiences across all areas of life.

Choi The process of preparing for 6G commercialization that Samsung is working on is set to be a long and painstaking one, requiring a lot of hard work. This cannot be achieved by Samsung alone, and will require the collaboration of industries, academics and governments alike. We at Samsung intend to play a leading role in leading both innovation and collaboration.

Park I’d like to thank you both for your time today. Do you have any closing remarks you would like to share?

Zhang It has been an honor to speak with you today and introduce the efforts and vision of Samsung Research for 6G. While there are many challenges ahead, I agree with Dr. Choi that by continuing innovation and collaboration, we can definitely achieve the goal of bringing the next hyper-connected experience to every corner of life via 6G.

Choi The first step in moving towards our joint goal of realizing 6G will be taken at the Samsung 6G Forum, and we look forward to the interest and participation of many at the event.

If you are interested in pre-registering online to take part in the Samsung 6G Forum on May 13, you may do so by visiting the event website until the day of the event. As well as receiving event schedule updates, registered guests will also be able to leave questions on the website prior to each session.

The Samsung 6G Forum, divided into two sessions, will be broadcast live online via Samsung’s YouTube channel. Be sure to tune in on May 13 to learn more about the future of the hyper-connected experience, and stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for all the latest news about 6G.

¹ Samsung Research, Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, leads the development of future technologies for the company’s Device eXperience (DX) Division.

Samsung Electronics today unveiled its vision for the future, “Together for tomorrow”, during a pre-show keynote event at CES 2022. Keynote speaker Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of DX (Device eXperience) Division at Samsung, highlighted the company’s efforts to usher in a new age of togetherness, with customizable experiences that reflect consumers’ evolving lifestyles, and innovations that mark progress for both society and the planet.

The company’s “Together for tomorrow” vision is one that empowers everyone to create positive change and drives collaborations that address some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. The keynote illustrated how Samsung plans to make its vision a reality by introducing a range of sustainability initiatives, purposeful partnerships, and customizable and connected technologies.

“I’m excited for you to be a part of our vision to see how innovation can create positive change, [and] to join us and work together for tomorrow,” said Han. ”These developments will make sustainability part of your product experience, enabling you to live a more sustainable life.”

Building a Sustainable Future

At its core, Samsung’s vision for the future is built on what the company calls “everyday sustainability.” It is a concept that inspires Samsung to put sustainability at the heart of everything it does. The company has been realizing its vision by adopting new, low-impact product manufacturing practices, footprint-reducing packaging and a more sustainable customer experience, and by responsibly disposing of products at the end of their lifecycles.

Samsung’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions throughout the production cycle have also earned recognition from the Carbon Trust, the world’s leading authority on carbon footprint. Last year, the company’s Carbon Trust-certified memory chips helped reduce carbon emissions by nearly 700,000 tons.

Samsung’s efforts in this area extend well beyond semiconductors and include expanding the use of recycled materials. To introduce everyday sustainability to more products, Samsung’s Visual Display Business plans to use 30 times more recycled plastics than it did in 2021. The company also revealed plans to expand its use of recycled materials to include all mobile products and home appliances over the next three years.

In 2021, all of Samsung’s TV boxes included recycled materials. For this year, the company revealed that it will be expanding the use of recycled materials to include the boxes’ interior packaging as well. Now, recycled materials will be incorporated into Styrofoam, box holders and plastic bags. The company also announced the global expansion of its award-winning Eco-Packaging program. The expansion of the program, which transforms cardboard boxes into cat houses, side tables and other useful furniture items, will include packaging for home appliances such as vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, air purifiers and more.

Samsung is also building sustainability into the ways that customers experience its products. Such experiences will be integral to empowering people to reduce their carbon footprint and make positive changes together for a better tomorrow. As an example, the company introduced notable enhancements to its first-of-its-kind SolarCell Remote, which eliminates battery waste with a built-in solar panel that can be charged during both day and night.

The enhanced SolarCell Remote gets electricity from radio frequencies in devices like Wi-Fi routers.¹ “What’s more, it will be included in more Samsung products – like new Samsung TVs and home appliances – with the goal of eliminating more than 200 million batteries from landfills.² When you line them up, it is the distance from right here, Las Vegas, to Korea,” said Han.

In addition, by 2025, Samsung plans to make all of its TVs and phone chargers operate on near-zero standby power, so that the products will consume almost no energy when not being used.

E-waste is another big challenge for the electronics industry, which is why Samsung has collected more than five million tons of e-waste since 2009. For mobile products, last year, Samsung launched Galaxy for the Planet, a sustainability platform that was created to bring about tangible climate action and minimize devices’ environmental footprints throughout their lifecycles.

“These are important steps,” said Han, “but we cannot achieve our goals alone. We believe open innovation and collaboration are keys to fighting climate change and protecting our environment.” With this in mind, Samsung announced that its eco-conscious technologies like the SolarCell Remote will be made open source, so that others can utilize them for their new devices too.

Samsung’s decision to make such technologies openly available reflects a commitment to innovation – and to everyday sustainability – that transcends industries. The collaboration with Patagonia that Samsung announced at the keynote demonstrates the type of innovation that can result when companies – even those from entirely different industries – come together to address environmental issues. The innovative solution that the companies are designing will help fight plastic pollution by enabling Samsung washing machines to minimize microplastics from entering waterways through laundry cycles.

“This is a serious problem, and not one we can solve on our own,” said Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy at Patagonia. Commending the hard work and dedication of Samsung engineers, Stanley described the working relationship as “a perfect example of the kind of collaboration we all need to help turn the tide of climate change and restore nature to health.”

“We are thrilled about this collaboration, but our work won’t stop there,” added Han. “We will continue to explore new partnerships and collaborations, aiming to address the challenges facing our planet.”

Empowering Users With Customized Experiences 

In addition to describing steps it is taking to advance everyday sustainability, Samsung outlined various ways it is advancing technology to cater to consumers’ diverse needs. Understanding that each person is unique and wants to customize their devices to suit their lifestyle, Samsung strives to find ways to help people redefine their relationships with everyday technologies. This people-first approach to innovation is a key pillar of the company’s “Together for tomorrow” vision.

The platforms and screens that Samsung unveiled at the event reflect the ‘Screens Everywhere, Screens for All’ era that Han alluded to at CES 2020. The Freestyle is a lightweight and portable screen that gives you a cinema-quality experience no matter where you are. Featuring AI-enabled sound, built-in streaming apps and a host of useful Smart TV accessibility features, The Freestyle can be set up virtually anywhere and projects up to 100 inches.

The Samsung Gaming Hub, meanwhile, offers an all-in-one platform for discovering and playing cloud and console games, and is set to launch on the company’s 2022 Smart TVs and monitors. Lastly, The Odyssey Ark is a 55-inch, flexible and curved gaming screen that takes immersion to the next level with a multi-view experience that allows users to play games, video chat with friends and watch gaming videos at the same time.

To introduce more tailored product experiences to consumers’ homes, Samsung announced the rollout of even more customization options for its Bespoke lineup of home appliances. This includes new Bespoke options for Samsung’s Family Hub and French 3-Door and 4-Door refrigerators, alongside dishwashers, ranges and over-the-range microwaves. Samsung is also introducing new products like the Bespoke Jet vacuum and Bespoke Washer and Dryer, expanding the lineup to every room in the home to offer consumers more ways to customize their space to suit their style and needs.

Samsung is constantly exploring ways to harness customization to help users get more out of their devices. The #YouMake Project represents the culmination of those efforts empowering consumers to choose and customize products based on what matters most to them, so they can enjoy a more personalized experience across their devices. Announced at the keynote, the initiative expands Samsung’s Bespoke vision beyond home appliances and brings it to life in the company’s smartphones and large-screen devices.

Ushering in an Era of Seamless Connectivity

Building a better future together for tomorrow requires more than building customization and sustainability into the core of Samsung’s products – it also requires seamless connectivity. During the keynote, Samsung demonstrated its commitment to ushering in an era of truly seamless connected experiences by highlighting its collaborations with partners as well as its next-gen products.

Unveiled for the first time at CES, the all-new Samsung Home Hub takes connected home experiences to the next level with a SmartThings service that integrates with AI-connected appliances to simplify home management. Samsung Home Hub combines six SmartThings services into one convenient device that gives users complete control over their smart home and makes it easier to manage household chores.

To enable different types of smart devices to work better with each other, Samsung announced plans to make SmartThings Hub a built-in feature of its 2022 TVs, Smart Monitors and Family Hub refrigerators. Doing so will help make connected living experiences more accessible and seamless for everyone.

Pointing to the need to offer consumers the best smart home experience regardless of brand, Samsung also announced its role as a founding member of the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA), which brings together various smart home appliance manufacturers. The organization aims to foster greater interoperability between devices across brands to give consumers more choice, and to enhance the security and safety of products and services.

“As a global coalition of smart home appliance manufacturers, HCA members share a belief that connected ecosystems and digital technology will allow us to further develop product experiences that are elegant, hyper-personalized and truly smart for our consumers,” said Katherine Shin, Vice President of Customer Experience at Trane Technologies. “The HCA invites any global manufacturers with a similar vision for efficiency, interoperability and innovation to come and build with us.”

Samsung’s keynote underlined a deep commitment to corporate social responsibility that continues to characterize its approach to innovation. That commitment is not only realized in the company’s technologies, but also in its dedication towards programs that empower the next generation to bring about the changes they want to see in the world. By nurturing young people’s development and building skills for the workplaces of tomorrow, programs like Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung Innovation Campus are turning dreams into action.

“Today, I’m honored to share that Samsung’s programs to empower the next generation have now reached more than 21 million people since 2012,” said Han. “This is the better tomorrow we all seek: enabling people to reach beyond their dreams, a planet protected so others can experience its wonders, [and] innovation as the spark for change.”

For more information, including images and videos of the products Samsung is announcing at CES 2022, please visit news.samsung.com/global/ces-2022.

¹ For radio frequency harvesting, a physical proximity of SolarCell Remote to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi router is required.

² Estimate is based on expected sales volume and average usage period of related products.

The five papers selected for AES’ esteemed ‘Top 10’ list this year were submitted by the Samsung Research (SR) ¹ Visual Technology Team and Samsung Research America (SRA)’s Audio Lab.

Read on to learn more about the industry-leading papers submitted by Samsung to have received the Top 10 accolade this year.

① A Study in AI for Bass Extension and Distortion Reduction in Loudspeakers (SRA)

The most downloaded paper from this Fall’s AES conference, SRA’s paper entitled ‘Application of AI Techniques for Nonlinear Control of Loudspeakers’, continues the team’s work into bass extension and distortion reduction.

The paper posits that, in order to obtain high loudness that features good bass extension, low distortion and mechanical protection, the motion of the loudspeaker’s diaphragm needs to be accurately controlled.

SRA’s study presents a novel approach to solving these issues that harnesses a neural network to directly map the loudspeaker’s diaphragm displacement to the input voltage, allowing for the loudspeaker to be ‘inverted’. This technique not only allows control and linearization of the loudspeaker without theoretical assumptions, but it is also simpler to implement.

② Developing a Method To Measure Multiple Loudspeakers Simultaneously (SRA)

SRA’s second Top 10 paper, titled ‘Deconvolution of Room Impulse Responses From Simultaneous Excitation of Loudspeakers’, presents a method that allows for the measuring of several loudspeakers in a room simultaneously that reduces the measurement time, compared with typical immersive audio systems, by a factor of ten.

Traditional room-equalization involves exciting one loudspeaker at a time and then de-convolving the loudspeaker-room response from the recording. As the number of loudspeakers and positions within a room increases, the time required to measure loudspeaker-room responses therefore also increases. Therefore, SRA’s paper presents a technique to deconvolve impulse responses after exciting all loudspeakers at the same time.

③ Optimizing the Integration of Audio Systems Into Slim TVs (SRA)

Along with the development of new space-efficient display technologies in recent years has come the trend to decrease the overall size of consumer electronics, including televisions. In order to combat the physical limitations for audio technology development brought about by these designs, SRA has produced their AES Top 10-certified paper titled ‘Transducer Design Considerations for Slim TV Applications’.

The slim TV form factor brought about by industry trends creates a challenge for the design of integrated audio systems as it severely limits the physical performance possibilities of any acoustic transducer. For the most part, modern DSP (Digital Signal Processor) and amplifier technologies have been able to utilize the transducer up to its performance limits and thus maintain audio quality. However, if further thickness reduction of the TV is desired, these technologies will no longer be enough. SRA’s paper discusses the physical limits of current designs and suggests a new layout of a moving coil-transducer for ultra-slim device applications.

④ Discovering the Best Audio Codec for HDR10+ (SRA)

As we move into the HDR10+ era, SRA has been conducting research into the preferred audio codec for HDR10+, resulting in this accolade-winning paper, ‘Bitrate Requirements for an Audio Codec for Stereo, Surround and Immersive Formats’.

The paper shows that the Opus codec would be an excellent choice as the preferred audio codec for HDR10+. The team conducted three listening tests on Opus encoded stereo, 5.1 and 7.1.4 channel content taken from music, cinematic and EBU files encoded at bitrates of 32, 48 and 64 kbps per channel. Current Opus encapsulation in Ogg does not support 7.1.4 with stereo pairing. Therefore, the paper proposes a new stereo pairing schema to accommodate 7.1.4 content in Opus with joint stereo encoding. The results of the study conducted indicate that a bit rate of 64 kbps per channel or higher is required for transparency in stereo, but 48 kbps per channel may be sufficient for 5.1 and 7.1.4 audio formats.

⑤ Developing AI-Based 3D Audio Codec for High-Immersion in OTT Service Environment (SR)

As growing trends indicate that users’ preferred media consumption platform has shifted from cinema or broadcast channels to over-the-top (OTT) services, SR’s paper, titled ‘AI 3D Immersive Audio Codec Based on Content-Adaptive Dynamic Down-Mixing and Up-Mixing Framework’, proposes new 3D immersive audio codec that can support various spatial audio formats for multiple loudspeaker layouts accessible in OTT service environments.

Unlike conventional technologies that use a fixed mixing profile regardless of content type and characteristics, SR proposes a framework that variably applies the determined mixing/de-mixing profile by dynamically performing audio scene classification and spatial energy distribution characteristics analysis based on AI technology. It was also shown through a listening evaluation that the proposed one can provide a higher immersion than the conventional method even in a home entertainment OTT service environment.

¹ Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, which leads the development of future technologies for its Device eXperience division

On January 11, Samsung built anticipation for their in-depth presentations at CES 2021 with a live-streamed press conference announcing the company’s new vision and some of their new innovations that are set to provide a ‘Better Normal for All’. The press conference opened with some powerful remarks from Sebastian Seung, President and Head of Samsung Research, who outlined how the company’s latest technologies have been informed by the changes brought about in recent times and developed to empower users to live more conveniently, intelligently and sustainably.

Read on to discover more about the biggest announcements from Samsung’s CES 2021 opening press conference.

Designing Products for a Better Normal for All

Seung kicked off the live-streamed press conference by noting the changes all have us have experienced since last year’s CES and the impact this has had not only on the way we live, but also on how we use technology in our daily lives.

“Among many things, your home has taken on a greater significance,” noted Seung, who went on to acknowledge the different and new methods people have been harnessing to stay connected while staying at home. “But what if that home, and those technologies in it, were actually built around you? At Samsung, we’re always finding ways to do just that,” he assured.

Personalizing Your Smart Experiences

In order to illustrate Samsung’s commitment to technology that creates a better normal for all, Seung introduced several of the company’s latest innovations designed to provide more intuitive experiences that not only match a user’s environment, but also their personality.

One such innovation is the Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex refrigerator, the latest addition to Samsung’s customizable Bespoke refrigerator lineup and the first Bespoke product to launch in the U.S. market. “Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex comes with even more ways to customize your kitchen for both form and function,” highlighted Seung of the refrigerator’s innovative design that allows users to tailor the product to their own preferences.

The second innovation introduced by Seung was designed with the understanding that, following the way the concept of the living space has changed over the past year, users’ needs have also changed as they require personalized product experiences everywhere in their homes. “We think your TV should reflect these changes,” he noted, going on to highlight the Samsung Lifestyle TV lineup as an example of the company’s efforts to provide innovations that reflect the changing tastes and needs of consumers. Seung then went on to unveil the brand-new 110-inch MICRO LED, a breakthrough product packed with new features to let users customize their space and their experiences as they wish.

Seung then highlighted that, along with cutting-edge technologies, today’s users require personalized smart services that can respond and adapt to their daily routines, and went on to unveil two new services developed to help users stay more connected across different aspects of life: SmartThings Cooking and the Samsung Health Smart Trainer, a feature that tracks and analyzes user posture in real time just as personal trainer would.

Bringing Next-Generation AI Directly into Your Home

Seung next spotlighted the role artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of playing in the home. “Today, AI is about being more personal and predictive. It’s about benefitting you every day by being a core part of the products and services you enjoy,” he highlighted.

AI is already at work in several of Samsung’s leading consumer electronics, from smart washers to Smart TVs, where Neo Quantum Processor with enhanced upscaling capabilities can optimize picture quality to 4K and 8K picture output regardless of the input quality. However, explained Seung, the transformational power of AI is set to further come to life in users’ homes.

He then introduced a special guest to the stage – the brand-new JetBot 90 AI+, a robot vacuum fitted with smart object recognition technology for intelligent ­cleaning. Seung went on to showcase that the JetBot 90 AI+ is fitted with LiDAR and 3D sensors for location mapping.

What Samsung’s Robot Assistants Can Do for You

Seung then reminded viewers that Samsung has introduced a range of intelligent, human-centered robots at previous year’s CES events, and that with innovations such as the JetBot 90 AI+, this year is no exception. “Samsung has been continuously improving our robotics, including many types of Samsung Bot,” he explained.

“You are at the center of all our innovations,” further affirmed Seung, who then went on to provide a glimpse into what this might mean for robotic solutions in the future by introducing Samsung Bot Care,¹ a concept robot that recognizes a user’s behavior to be a better robotic assistant, and Samsung Bot Handy,² another concept robot capable of serving as an extra hand in the home that flips the script on what a ‘home robot’ could look like.

For All Our Tomorrows

Sandeep Rana, Environmental Sustainability Specialist at Samsung Electronics, then took to the stage in order to affirm Samsung’s ongoing commitment towards building a sustainable and accessible future. “We need a holistic solution – and that’s our goal at Samsung,” noted Rana. Highlighting the potential that the next generation has to generate meaningful change in the world, Rana outlined the global support programs that Samsung has established over the past decade to nurture young people’s new ways of thinking, and the services that have been developed to provide everyone with access to technology.

Next, Rana provided a run-down of the ways in which Samsung is developing products and technologies so that the next generation can enjoy a green planet. “To start, we’ve put sustainability at the heart of some of our most popular products.” From the interchangeable modular design of their Bespoke refrigerators and the energy efficiency of their AI-powered washing machines to the company’s memory-saving solutions, Samsung is constantly exploring how technology can break down barriers for a better future, noted Rana.

Furthermore, initiatives such as Samsung’s Galaxy Upcycling Program are a “recognition of our need to take responsibility and be in harmony with nature,” affirmed Rana, who then highlighted the company’s eco-packaging innovations that won the Innovation Award at last year’s CES and announced that Samsung plans to use eco-packaging in all 2021 Lifestyle TVs and most of the 2021 Neo QLED line.

Rana concluded her presentation by introducing Galaxy Upcycling at Home, a new program that lets users decide how they want to repurpose their own Galaxy devices into convenient home devices. “This is a vision of a better, more inclusive and sustainable future,” noted Rana, “and we’re working toward it every day.”

Looking Ahead to a Bright Future

Following Rana’s presentation, Seung then returned to the stage to provide final thoughts before closing out the press conference. “What we’ve shared today is how, after a year of abrupt change, Samsung can help us all work toward a better, brighter future through next-generation technologies,” he affirmed.

Finally, Seung promised that the company would be showcasing even more products that enable us all to achieve a better world for generations to come at the company’s Unpacked event later in the week. “Together, we believe we can build a better normal for all,” he concluded.

¹ Samsung Bot Care is not currently available for sale. The described functions and technical capabilities have been demonstrated in test settings.

² Samsung Bot Handy is not currently available for sale. The described functions and technical capabilities have been demonstrated in test settings.

Samsung Electronics shared its vision for the future at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The company introduced new products at its virtual press conference, showing how it’s continuing to innovate by creating solutions that are flexible, intelligently connected, and use AI to understand context to make daily life seamless.

“Our world looks different, and many of you have been faced with a new reality–one where, among other things, your home has taken on a greater significance,” said Sebastian Seung, President and Head of Samsung Research, the advanced R&D hub of the company that leads the development of future technologies for Samsung Electronics’ SET (end-products), addressing the company’s efforts to enhance the at-home technology experience. “Our innovations are designed to provide more personal and more intuitive experiences that express your personality. We’re hard at work to bring you next-generation innovation, with AI as the core enabler, for your better tomorrow.”

Creating More Intimate and Personalized User Experiences

As people spent more time at home last year, the tech they wanted became the tech they needed. In relying on that tech, people came to understand many ways connected solutions could make life easier. TVs were vital for entertainment—and sometimes, fitness. Chromebooks became crucial home learning tools. Smart fridges helped with remote shopping and meal prep. Smartphones were indispensable.

Samsung’s continued investments in innovations that adapt to evolving lifestyles enable the company to keep pace with rapid changes. Key innovations unveiled include:

• Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex: The latest version of the Bespoke refrigerator features changeable panels that come with a choice of colors and materials that made the original a success, allowing consumers to adjust their fridge for form and function. The new 4-Door model, available in North America this spring, also includes a brand-new Beverage Center, which gives quick access to a water dispenser and an automatically-filled water pitcher. Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex also comes equipped with a Dual Auto Ice Maker which makes not only regular cubed ice but also smaller ‘ice bites’ to suit different preferences for cold beverages.

• 110-inch MICRO LED: This new screen features self-lit inorganic LED with a slim and nearly bezel-less Infinity Screen design that seamlessly blends into the living space. The result is a spectacularly immersive viewing experience with astounding picture quality. The 110-inch MICRO LED also adds “4Vue” (Quad View), a four-way viewing option—so you can keep up with multiple sports at once, or stream a tutorial while playing a video game. Also, for US consumers, more than 160 free channels¹ are available through Samsung TV Plus. MICRO LED will be rolled out globally beginning this spring.²

• Lifestyle TV: Samsung’s cutting-edge lifestyle TV lineup includes The Serif, The Frame, The Sero and The Terrace—a recently launched 4K QLED outdoor TV—as well as Samsung The Premiere, a cinema-like quality 4K laser projector.

• SmartThings Cooking: A new service from Samsung SmartThings is designed to make your culinary journey seamless. An automatic Meal Planner powered by Whisk’s Food AI recommends meals for the whole week, makes shopping lists with the ingredients you need, and connects to grocery retailers for one-stop shopping straight from the Family Hub refrigerator or your mobile screen. Recipe instructions can be sent directly to synced Samsung cooking devices to minimize hassles and mistakes.³

• Samsung Health Smart Trainer on Samsung 2021 TVs: Samsung Health seamlessly transforms the home into a personal gym, and the new Smart Trainer⁴ feature tracks and analyzes posture in real time, just like a personal trainer. During and post-workout, Smart Trainer provides feedback on form, helps you count your reps, and estimates calories burned. With video and interactive training via Bixby-enabled voice control, Samsung Health Smart Trainer elevates and personalizes the home workout experience.

Bringing AI and Robots to Daily Life Including Housekeeping

Samsung has long been at the forefront of AI and robotics innovation, leveraging its seven global AI research centers to advance technology. By bringing AI to its products, Samsung is creating new home experiences—from washing machines that optimize water usage, detergents, and wash cycles, to TVs with a Quantum AI Processor that can upscale HD content into pristine 8K resolution.

The major technologies featured during Samsung’s press conference include the following:

• JetBot 90 AI+: Coming to the US 1H 2021, this new vacuum cleaner uses object recognition technology to identify and classify objects to decide the best cleaning path. LiDAR and 3D sensors allow JetBot 90 AI+ to avoid cables and small objects, while still cleaning hard-to-reach corners in your home. Also outfitted with a camera, JetBot 90 AI+ is integrated with the SmartThings app to assist you with home monitoring.

• Samsung Bot Care⁵: The latest development in Samsung’s growing robotics lineup, Samsung Bot Care is designed use AI to recognize and respond to your behavior. It will be able to act as both a robotic assistant and companion, helping to take care of the details in your life. It will also learn your schedule and habits and send you reminders to help guide you throughout your busy day.

• Samsung Bot Handy⁶: Also in development, Samsung Bot Handy will rely on advanced AI to recognize and pick up objects of varying sizes, shapes and weights, becoming an extension of you and helping you with work around the house. Samsung Bot Handy will be able to tell the difference between the material composition of various objects, utilizing the appropriate amount of force to grab and move around household items and objects, working as your trusted partner to help with house chores like cleaning up messy rooms or sorting out the dishes after a meal.

Looking to the future, Samsung is also developing other tangible applications of AI technologies for daily life. Samsung is continuing to build on its Samsung Bot Retail, which would guide users outside the home in retail environments, and GEMS, Samsung’s health-focused exoskeleton as mobility aide. These innovations allow robots and robotic devices to co-exist with humans, enhancing their lives and catering to a variety of lifestyles and different environments.

Technology for a Better Future

Samsung closed its CES 2021 press conference by sharing more on the brand’s vision for how technology can enable progress and create a better tomorrow for all. Samsung believes that there is no single all-encompassing solution; a sustainable future requires investments across a broad spectrum. That’s why Samsung is focused on three key areas that are poised to benefit the most from technological innovation: sustainability, education, and accessibility.

“At Samsung, we are always looking for ways to build a better, more sustainable future,” said Sandeep Rana, Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability Specialist at Samsung, who shared Samsung’s sustainability message at the press conference. “With a focus on the environment, people and society, we will continue to provide our consumers with responsible tools and technologies to address our challenges today and enable a better future for all.”

As part of its commitment to creating a circular economy, Samsung is developing programs and packaging solutions that promote a sustainable product lifecycle—from beginning to end:

• Galaxy Upcycling at Home: At the event, Samsung announced an update to its Galaxy Upcycling program called Galaxy Upcycling at Home. The new program reimagines the lifecycle of an older Galaxy phone and offers consumers options on how they might be able to repurpose their device to create a variety of convenient IoT tools.

• TV Eco Packaging: Additionally, Samsung announced that its eco-packaging would expand to QLED, UHD TV, monitor, and audio products in 2021. As part of an ongoing commitment to eco-consciousness, Samsung is creating products and solutions with sustainability at the core. For example, Samsung’s new Solar Cell Remote Control—made in part with recycled plastic—can be charged via solar or indoor lighting, reducing battery waste.

Believing that future generations will play a critical role in building a sustainable future, Samsung has also prioritized technology education through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, which encourages young people to creatively use technology to solve community challenges, and Samsung Innovation Campus, which helps students develop technical and personal skills for future jobs.

Samsung also highlighted at the event how it is making its products even more inclusive and accessible for all. The SeeColors application is designed to help those with color vision deficiency (CVD) to adjust the settings on their 2021 QLED TVs for a better viewing experience, and the Sign Language Zoom feature on TVs ensures that everyone, regardless of ability, can easily enjoy cutting-edge technology.

Lastly, understanding how challenging it can be to strike a balance between our digital and analog lives, Samsung presented the Digital Wellbeing feature, designed to help people take control and manage their digital time—so they can use technology to better our lives and empower ourselves.

For more information, images or video on the products Samsung announced at CES 2021, please visit http://news.samsung.com.

¹ 160 free channels for Samsung TV Plus are available for US users only. The Service availability may vary by region and product.

² Availability of MICRO LED will vary by region.

³ Available on Android and iOS devices. A Wi-Fi connection and a Samsung account are required.

⁴ Specific features available may vary by region and product.

⁵ Samsung Bot Care is not currently available for sale. The described functions and technical capabilities have been demonstrated in test settings.

⁶ Samsung Bot Handy is not currently available for sale. The described functions and technical capabilities have been demonstrated in test settings.

Disclaimer: All functionality, features, specifications, and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation. Availability of the above-mentioned products, services, and features may vary by region.

Spearheading Speech Translation Research

Samsung R&D Institute Poland and Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing competed with some of the world’s top universities and research labs to win first place in two separate challenges at the International Workshop on Spoken Language Translation (IWSLT), one of the world’s longest-running workshops on automatic language translation. This year, IWSLT joined the Association for Computational Linguistics conference (ACL), a premier conference in the field of computational linguistics, to cover a broad spectrum of research areas that are concerned with computational approaches to natural language.

For the Offline Speech Translation task, which assesses the translation of TED talks from English to German, Samsung R&D Institute Poland won first place for the second time with its own research capabilities in audio to text translation. The conferral of this award marks the fourth consecutive year that teams from Samsung R&D Institute Poland have taken first prize in IWSLT challenges, including previous years’ text translation tasks.

This year’s Offline Speech Translation task allowed participants to submit systems based on either the traditional speech translation pipeline system composed of an automatic speech recognition (ASR) and a machine translation (MT) or an End-to-End (E2E) system. Samsung R&D Institute Poland’s system is based on a single encoder-decoder deep neural network – an E2E system – capable of both English and German texts.

In computational linguistics, E2E systems are harnessed to solve the common problem of error accumulation, wherein, in a traditional pipeline, an error in the speech recognition phase can lead to a nonsensical translation. However, research from over the past three years has shown that traditional systems have constantly been outperforming E2E speech translation systems. The Samsung team’s system not only placed first in the E2E category, but also outscored all traditional pipeline system entrants, a remarkable achievement that puts Samsung R&D Institute Poland at the forefront of speech translation research.

The team from Samsung R&D Institute Poland Team who participated in this year’s IWSLT challenges

Innovative Approaches in the Field of Computational Linguistics AI

Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing took part in a second challenge, the Open Domain Translation task evaluating Japanese to Chinese translation capability, ultimately taking first place. The main goals of this task were the promotion of research into translation between Asian language, the exploitation of noisy parallel web corpora for machine translation and the thoughtful handling of data provenance.

Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing submitted a system based on Transformer model architecture and adopted the relative position attention. The team focused on improving the Transform baseline system with elaborate data preprocessing and managed to achieve significant improvements. The team also tried shared and exclusive word embedding and compared different granularity of tokens, approaching the process at a sub-word level, including Byte Pair Encoding (BPE) and Sentence Piece. Large-scale back translation on monolingual corpus was used to improve the Neural Machine Translation (NMT) performance.

Members of the team from Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing Team who participated in this year’s IWSLT challenges

Achievements in AI Audio Signal Interpretation

In addition to their first-place finish in the IWSLT challenge, Samsung R&D Institute Poland was also recognized as one of the leading teams at the Detection and Classification of Acoustic Scenes and Events (DCASE) 2020 challenge, held by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), which aims to use state-of-the-art AI technology to understand and interpret audio signals.

Engineers from Samsung R&D Institute Poland, who possess previous experience in Acoustic Scene Understanding and Sound Sources Localization tasks (having ranked first place in two tasks in 2019), set their focus on Task 2: Unsupervised Detection of Anomalous Sounds for Machine Condition Monitoring. The goal of this task was to identify whether the sound emitted from a target machine was normal or anomalous. The main challenge was detecting unknown anomalous sounds under a condition within which only normal sound samples have been provided as training data. The engineers scored second place out of 40 teams.

The team from Samsung R&D Institute Poland Team who participated in this year’s DCASE challenge

Envisaging the Future of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

In June, Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing also participated in three challenges hosted by the 2020 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR 2020): the Embodied AI Challenge, the VizWiz-Captions Challenge and the VATEX Video Captioning Challenge. The team claimed second place in the challenges.

The Embodied AI Challenge aimed to enable robots to understand human commands and perform correct actions within a virtual environment, while the VizWiz-Captions Challenge involved predicting an accurate caption when given an image taken by a visually impaired person and the VATEX Video Captioning Challenge aimed to benchmark progress towards models that can describe videos in various languages including English and Chinese.

Members of the team from Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing Team who participated in this year’s CVPR challenges

Samsung Electronics’ Global Research & Development (R&D) Centers have presented their studies to the CVPR (Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) introducing new computer vision, deep learning and AI related technical researches.

CVPR is the world’s biggest conference on computer engineering and AI. At this year’s conference, held online from June 14 to 19, Samsung Research, an advanced R&D hub within Samsung Electronics’ SET Business and its advanced R&D centers gave presentations on a total of 11 thesis papers. Researchers from Samsung Moscow AI center and Samsung Toronto AI center were invited to oral presentations, an opportunity given to only 5% of the entire attendees.

At the oral presentation, Pavel Solovev of Samsung Moscow AI Center introduced ‘High Resolution Daytime Translation without Domain Labels’, which is a technology that changes a high resolution landscape photograph into scenes from various times of the day using data without domain label. Konstantin Sofiiuk also introduced ‘f-BRS: Rethinking Backpropagating Refinement for Interactive Segmentation’, which is a technology that allows a user to simply click an object in a photograph to precisely select and separate it.

‘High Resolution Daytime Translation without Domain Labels’

Joining from the Toronto AI Center, researcher Michael Brown and his team introduced the paper titled ‘Deep White-Balance Editing’, which was also selected for an oral presentation. This AI technology corrects white-balance mistakes made in a captured photograph much more accurately than existing photo editing programs. This technology also allows users to accurately adjust the photo’s white-balance color temperature.

Deep White-Balance Editing

Researchers from Samsung Research America also presented interesting findings at the conference. Eric Luo’s study titled ‘Wavelet Synthesis Net: An Efficient Architecture for Disparity Estimation to Synthesize DSLR Calibre Bokeh Effect on Smartphones’ focused on key enablers to narrow the gap between DSLR and smartphone camera in terms of bokeh, the narrow depth of field (DoF).

Yilin Shen from Samsung Research America’s AI Center introduced a study on out-of-distribution (OoD) benchmarks for deep neural networks research. Shen’s study titled ‘Generalized ODIN: Detecting Out-Of-Distribution Image Without Learning From Out-Of-Distribution Data’ proposed the key machine learning algorithm of drastically improving the detection rate, one of major challenges in AI technology.

Additionally, the studies proposed by researchers from the Samsung Research’s Visual Technology team and Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore were also selected by CVPR.

Samsung AI Center Cambridge Director Dr. Nicholas Lane has been awarded the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) SIGMOBILE Rockstar Award for 2020. The international award was founded in 2013, and recognizes an individual who has produced outstanding research or product contributions in the area of mobile computing early in their career.

The ACM is the high-profile academic organization that presents the prestigious Turing Award, and SIGMOBILE is ACM’s international special interest group on the topics of mobile computing, wireless networks and wearable computing. SIGMOBILE’s Rockstar Award is awarded to an individual who makes outstanding contributions to the field of mobile computing within 10 years of receiving their highest university degree or at an age younger than 40. Entrants are nominated by their peers, before an award committee that includes past award winners screens nominees and selects that year’s recipient. 2020 marks the first time that a professor from a university outside of the United States has won SIGMOBILE’s Rockstar Award.

Dr. Nicholas Lane is a Director at the Samsung AI Center in Cambridge where he oversees teams that work on on-device and distributed machine learning. In recent years he has focused primarily on developing deep learning for modeling human activity and context, as well as enabling state-of-the-art signal processing and modeling algorithms to work efficiently on embedded and mobile-class hardware. Commenting on why Dr. Lane was chosen to receive the honor, the committee said the award recognized “his contributions to the understanding of how resource-constrained mobile devices can robustly understand, reason and react to complex user behaviors and environments through new paradigms in learning algorithms and system design.”

Speaking about receiving SIGMOBILE’s 2020 Rockstar Award, Dr. Lane said, “I am delighted and honored to have received this award. I feel very fortunate to have worked with many wonderfully talented researchers over the years, and this award is a reflection of these collaborative efforts. I believe it is also a signal of the growing importance of on-device machine learning, and I look forward to doing my part to keep Samsung at the forefront of this rapidly evolving technology.”

“Fellow” is the highest grade awarded by the IEEE, and is conferred by the institute’s Board of Directors when a person demonstrates an outstanding record of accomplishment in any of the IEEE’s fields of interest. The total number of fellows selected in any one year cannot exceed 0.1 percent of the organization’s total voting membership.

Dr. Liu is Vice President and Chief Scientist at Samsung’s Montreal AI Center. He develops novel AI solutions for real-world applications like the intelligent automation of 5G networks and has made tremendous contributions to performance and power management advancements in the areas of computing and networking systems.

In his work, Dr. Liu applies insights from a wide range of disciplines, including feedback control, optimization, and machine learning, to lead research in the fields of performance and power management of data centers and networked servers. This line of pioneering research, which helps complex systems adapt to highly dynamic workloads and diverse conditions, has influenced many subsequent research efforts in both academia and industry.

“I am both honored and humbled to be granted the grade of IEEE Fellow,” said Dr. Liu, “I am grateful to my colleagues and the community members who have recognized my contributions, and will continue to devote myself to the development of the AI technologies that will enable intelligent systems to better complement people’s everyday lives.”

Dr. Liu received a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and M.E. in Automatic Control from Tsinghua University in 1996 and 1999 respectively, then completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006. He has been a professor of Computer Science at McGill University since 2007, and a William Dawson Scholar since 2014. Dr. Liu is a recipient of several awards, including the Mitacs Award for Exceptional Leadership – Professor from MITACS, the Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Award from the Canadian Association of Computer Science, and the Tomlinson Science Award from McGill University.

Other members of Samsung Electronics who have been named as IEEE Fellows in the past include: Vice Chairman, CEO and head of the Device Solutions Division Kinam Kim, Executive Vice President and Samsung Research New York AI Center head Daniel Lee, Senior Vice President and Head of the Advanced Communications Research Center Sunghyun Choi, Vice President Jianzhong (Charlie) Zhang of Samsung Research America (SRA), and Fellow Juho Lee of Samsung Research.

Samsung kicked off the first CES of a brand-new decade by announcing the beginning of a new era of technology. Over the course of a riveting keynote – led by HS Kim, President and CEO of Consumer Electronics Division, Samsung Electronics – the company introduced a wide range of innovations designed specifically for this new era. With these technologies, the speakers explained, Samsung hopes to enhance our daily lives, homes and cities with more seamless and meaningful experiences – and in doing so, help create a better world for us all.

Follow along as we walk you through the biggest moments from Samsung’s unforgettable event.

Welcome to the “Age of Experience”

Addressing the tech world and consumers around the globe from the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Kim kicked off the keynote by heralding the beginning of a new age.

The Age of Experience, Kim began, is one that will “delight … redefine … and bring us closer together.” He went on to describe how consumers are increasingly prioritizing experiences over products, and “looking to buy convenience, peace of mind and enjoyment.” The Age of Experience is a product of this shift – an age in which increasingly innovative products foster seamless experiences and memorable moments. “At the center is us,” said Kim. “People. The way we interact with our world is what drives this evolution.”

“This is Samsung’s mission,” Kim continued, “to create unforgettable moments that make your lives better and make a difference for humanity.”

Introducing New Robotic Life Companions

To illustrate how Samsung is working to deliver on that mission, Kim spotlighted innovations that demonstrate “the next level of personalized interaction.”

One of the most exciting products of Samsung’s human-centric approach to innovation, he explained, involves vision to create robots that act as personal life companions. “Intelligent robots that live by your side and react to your needs every day,” Kim explained. “Robots that know you, support you, and take care of you, so you can focus on what really matters.”

Say Hello to Ballie

Next, Kim invited a very special guest to the stage – the initial embodiment of Samsung’s ‘robotic companion’ vision, Ballie. After the introduction, Kim treated the crowd to a demonstration of what the clever little guy can do, which includes everything from helping users exercise and manage their smart devices, to recording and storing special moments.

Offering More Personalized Care with Samsung Health

Afterward, Kim yielded the stage to Executive Vice President and Chief Research Scientist of Samsung Research, Sebastian Seung, who introduced enhancements to Samsung Health that leverage AI to offer users more personalized care. After outlining the enhancements, which he described as “the next evolution of the wellness experience,” Seung took a moment to meditate and work on his yoga posture using the Samsung Health app on his Galaxy Watch.

Next, Seung discussed Samsung’s efforts to revolutionize digital healthcare by partnering with industry leaders like Kaiser Permanente. To offer the audience more details on the partnership, Seung welcomed the Chief Innovation Officer of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Dr. Tadashi Ted Funahashi, who introduced one of the most exciting products of the collaboration: HeartWise, a convenient, home-based cardiac rehab program created to help patients recovering from heart surgery.

Trek the Himalayas From Home: AR Fitness with GEMS

Turning the crowd’s attention to innovations that will transform living spaces in the Age of Experience – blurring the boundaries between the physical and digital realms, and reshaping the home into “a living organism” – Federico Casalegno, Senior Vice President and Chief Design Innovation Officer of the Samsung Design Innovation Center, and Designer Chandni Dheer treated the audience to the first demonstration of Samsung’s GEMS technology. Short for ‘Gait Enhancing & Motivating System,’ GEMS pairs with AR glasses and a Galaxy smartwatch to create completely customized fitness experiences – transforming your home into your own personal workout studio.

Step Into the Smart Home of the Future

Within the smart home, the kitchen’s transformation will be especially dramatic. “Your kitchen appliances will be your cooking partners – like a personal chef, a nutritionist, and a shopping assistant, all in one,” Casalegno explained. The Family Hub refrigerator will be able to order ingredients online as it prepares “intelligent food playlists” for you, while Samsung’s new, self-contained growing station “puts garden-fresh produce on your table every night,” and Bot Chef provides an extra pair of hands in the kitchen.

Casalegno went on to describe how the living room of the new smart home is set to become “an actual community where we interact with people around the world.” Expansive, 5G-enabled displays in this next-level living room will become “windows to the world,” connecting loved ones as if they were in the same room. Users will be able to play games so realistically that it will feel like they’re “all together on the field,” while watching the game’s YouTube channel and video chatting with other players at the same time, all on a single, large display. 

“The potential to bring outside experiences into the home is literally endless,” Casalegno concluded, “and we are just beginning.” 

A Peek at the Safer, More Convenient City of the Future

Next, Emily Becher, Senior Vice President and Head of Samsung NEXT Global, laid out an inspiring vision for cities in the Age of Experience. In a smart city, she explained, smart buildings will “anticipate and adjust to your needs,” and will be designed with sustainability in mind, too, “doing much more while producing lower emissions.” Becher also outlined how Samsung is partnering with leading global real estate developers like Greystar to develop smart buildings, and highlighted an example in Seoul where residents can “call an elevator, turn out the lights, manage their package deliveries, or even find their parking spot with a simple swipe or voice command.” 

Afterward, Becher explained how the in-vehicle experience is transforming in terms of both convenience and safety. To illustrate this point, she described a driver getting stuck in traffic and their vehicle communicating with their other devices to adjust to the delay. She also discussed how these intelligent vehicles can sense “beyond the driver’s line of sight” to detect danger and minimize collisions, and how the city of the future will allow us to connect in “entirely new and valuable ways, as the digital world merges with physical space in extended reality experiences.”

Data Security: One Thing Samsung Will Never Compromise On

Before closing out the keynote, Kim took a moment to reaffirm Samsung’s commitment to a critically important issue both now and going forward: data security. “As an industry leader,” he began, “our commitment to data security will never waver.” Describing data security as fundamental in the Age of Experience, Kim reiterated Samsung’s pledge to safeguard users’ privacy by securely managing their data from the moment they provide it until its disposal.

Most importantly, he emphasized, the company is committed to “giving you control over your information. To that end, Samsung will never share your data with third parties without prior and direct consent from you, [and] we will stand by this promise no matter what.”

Creating a Better Place for All

Kim followed up that pledge by reaffirming another commitment that has guided Samsung’s innovation for years – a commitment to using technology to do good. “We have always believed that the benefits of technology must be available to all,” said Kim, describing innovations like Relúmĭno, which was created to help the visually impaired see more clearly, GEMS, which helps the elderly and disabled move more comfortably, and IGNIS firefighters save lives and stay safe while doing so, as products of this commitment.

Kim also underscored a key pillar of Samsung’s CSR vision, “Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People,” by announcing the expansion of the Samsung Innovation Campus. Building on the success of the many educational programs that the company has run over the last decade, the Samsung Innovation Campus offers young people training on the latest AI, IoT and cloud technologies.

Describing the campus as “core to our CSR vision,” Kim proudly revealed that the program has reached 20,000 students in 13 countries since its launch in 2019, and will double in size this year. By equipping future generations with the skills they’ll need to meet tomorrow’s demands, Samsung hopes to empower young people to achieve more and create a better world.

The Age of Experience will transform how we care for ourselves and our family, how we can customize our homes to meet our individual needs, and how we can build safer, more sustainable intelligent cities. By showcasing its latest advances in intelligent robotics, AI, 5G and edge computing, Samsung offered a glimpse into the not-so-distant future in which these technologies will come together to offer richer, more adaptive experiences for consumers.

“In the Age of Experience, we need to re-think the space we have to accommodate our diverse and evolving lifestyles,” said H.S. Kim, President and CEO of Consumer Electronics Division, Samsung Electronics. “What makes Samsung’s approach unique is the fact that we have a very clear philosophy built around human-centered innovation. We build and create to solve problems and enhance people’s lives.”

The Next Level of Personal Care

At the core of Samsung’s human-centered vision is personalized care, enhancing the health and well-being of consumers by satisfying their individual needs. During his opening remarks, H.S. Kim unveiled Samsung’s vision of robots as ‘life companions,’ and introduced Ballie, a small, rolling robot that understands you, supports you, and reacts to your needs to be actively helpful around the house.

Sebastian Seung, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Scientist at Samsung Electronics elaborated on Ballie, explaining that its On-Device AI capabilities enable it to be a fitness assistant and a mobile interface that seeks solutions for people’s changing needs. It does all this while maintaining stringent data protection and privacy standards.

“We believe AI is the future of personalized care,” stated Dr. Seung. “We see on-device AI as central to truly personalized experiences. On-device AI puts you in control of your information and protects your privacy, while still delivering the power of personalization.”

Samsung is also showcasing advanced and personalized health solutions. For example, the company has collaborated with Kaiser Permanente to develop a home-based, virtual cardiac rehabilitation solution that pairs a Samsung smartwatch with a smartphone via Bluetooth. Samsung’s HeartWise application sends reminders to the patient to exercise, collects activity data, and continuously displays the patient’s heart rate during workouts. This data is automatically uploaded via the smartphone to the patient’s chart so that clinicians, case managers and physical therapists can track the patient’s progress and engage with them accordingly.

The program enables users to partake in cardiac rehabilitation at home without taking time out of their everyday lives to travel to a hospital or medical clinic. The positive results of the home-based cardiac rehabilitation program were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Catalyst last year. Going forward, Samsung will continue to develop human-centric healthcare solutions that cater to the unique needs of the individuals who rely on them.

A Home Tailored to You

Samsung also offered a peek into the future home. Federico Casalegno, Chief Design Innovation Officer of Samsung Design Innovation Center, stated that the home will offer unique, immersive experiences with cutting-edge innovations like AI, sensors and data analysis: “As a living organism, the intelligent home will be a deeply personal space, tailoring experiences for each of us, according to our personal needs.”

Dr. Casalegno highlighted how spatial boundaries of the physical and digital worlds are dissolving, transforming living spaces into bespoke experience-spaces, like an art gallery, yoga studio or other forms of imaginable space. Such blurring of the two realms, according to Dr. Casalegno, is what will transform the home in the next decade.

He led the first-ever immersive demonstration involving Samsung’s GEMS (Gait Enhancing & Motivating System) technology. The demonstration showed how consumers can use AR glasses to work out with a virtual personal trainer, climb a mountain or walk underwater, from the comfort of their living room, while GEMS aggregated and analyzed results to give personalized action recommendations.

Samsung also showed how a room can be transformed with a screen like its MicroLED display, a convergence of software, AI, IoT and hardware. “A screen is not a product – it’s your window to the world, allowing you to instantly connect to your loved ones and friends as if they are in the same room,” said Dr. Casalegno, emphasizing that smart rooms can provide boundless experiences. “People can see and experience almost everything in the world and even the unknown world through the screen.”

Samsung also discussed the evolution of the modern culinary journey where appliances become cooking partners – a personal chef, nutritionist, and shopping assistant rolled into one. Intelligent and innovative technology can customize the entire food experience for consumers—from thoughtful recipe suggestions and meal planning tailored to personal preferences and what’s on-hand, to seamless grocery shopping, delivery and cooking. The company also highlighted a growing station for garden produce at home, and Bot Chef, a robotic food preparation assistant.

Safer and More Sustainable Urban Life in Smart Cities

Pointing to increasing global urbanization, Samsung outlined its smart cities vision, where intelligent systems enabled by smart devices, platforms and data,will make city life much safer and easier. Emily Becher, Senior Vice President and Head of Samsung NEXT Global, said, “We have the tools and the knowledge to create intelligent systems that make living in the city more engaging, safe, and efficient – so that our children, and their children after that can love living in their cities as much as so many of us do today.” She added, “Smart cities that utilize AI, IoT and 5G will transform how we interact with the surrounding environment in ways that maximize convenience and enjoyment”.

With IoT technology expanding its reach beyond the home to all types of buildings, Samsung’s core vision lies in saving energy, cutting down emissions and helping to achieve sustainability as populations grow.

Smart buildings will also make life more connected and convenient. For example, smart building residents will be able to call elevators, turn lights off, manage deliveries or check for parking spots with a simple swipe or voice command. Intelligent appliances installed in smart buildings will request repairs and address problems before residents even notice the issue.

In realizing the goal of creating a smart city with smart buildings, Samsung emphasized the importance of open collaboration. The company is working towards building partnerships with builders and property managers like Greystar Real Estate Partners, a leading U.S.-based global real estate developer, with which it will devise smart building solutions. “With smart buildings, the residents’ experience will get smarter, more efficient, more effective, so they utilize less energy,” said Bob Faith, Chairman and CEO of Greystar. “Samsung has the ability to bring all the technologies together and that convergence of the technologies in one place is really critical.”

Samsung also demonstrated how the combination of 5G, edge computing and AI will transform the urban transportation experience. Becher shared the company’s vision to lead the new era of vehicles, with 5G technology enabling Vehicle-to-Everything communication, which will seamlessly connect cars to the rest of the city.

Becher added that smart cities combined with 5G will be able to provide experiences unimaginable a few years ago to communities. She noted, “Faster and easier digital connection with each other will strengthen our sense of community and create entirely new forms of interaction.”

Building A Better Place for All

Concluding his 2020 CES keynote address, H.S. Kim stressed that the company is focused on using technology to create a better place for all. He highlighted three key areas of importance for the company going forward: security and privacy, technology for good, and citizenship.

Kim made clear that as an industry leader, the company’s commitment to data security and personal privacy will not waver, and that the protection of security and privacy will be a top priority as technology advances. He stated that the most important thing is putting people in control over their information, “Samsung will never share your data with third parties without prior and direct consent from you.”

He further emphasized that Samsung Knox, the company’s defense-grade security platform, will continue to expand to protect a growing array of Samsung’s devices—from mobile and TVs to home appliances and more. “We will further ensure transparent data management and transfer by advancing our data protection efforts with on-device AI, edge computing, and blockchain technology.”

Samsung also showcased how it is innovating for good, with technologies like Relúmĭno, which can help the visually-impaired see; IGNIS, a tool that helps firefighters make their jobs safer; and GEMS that helps the elderly and disabled to move.

Samsung also underscored a key pillar of its CSR vision, “Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People,” by announcing the expansion of the Samsung Innovation Campus program in 2020. Leveraging the success of the many educational programs from the last decade, Samsung Innovation Campus provides the next generation with training on the latest AI, IoT, and cloud technologies. Samsung said the campus has educated more than 20,000 students from 13 countries since its launch in 2019 and will double in size this year.

By providing education for future generations, Samsung is furthering its philosophy that technology’s purpose is to solve social problems and empower people to achieve more to make a better world.

For more information about the details disclosed at CES 2020, including photos and videos, please visit news.samsung.com. Samsung’s CES booth #15006 is on Level 1 of Central Hall in the Las Vegas Convention Center and will be open from January 7 10:00 a,m. till January 10 4:00 p.m, 2020.

Youngo Park (left) and Kwangpyo Choi, from Samsung Research’s Visual Technology team

It’s official: We’ve entered the era of 8K TVs. Around the world, sales of 8K displays are steadily increasing, and with TV manufacturers constantly adding more offerings to the mix, the 8K market is expected to continue to grow.

There are, however, a few challenges that need to be addressed before viewers around the world will be able to enjoy 8K’s stunning visuals in their entirety. First, more 8K content will need to be produced, and second, network connections need to be made capable of supporting the seamless streaming of 8K movies and shows.

To address these issues, researchers from Samsung Research, an advanced R&D hub within Samsung Electronics’ SET Business, have developed an AI Codec known as AI ScaleNet. First introduced at SDC19, this innovation enables the delivery of 8K content on networks that typically support only 4K speeds – without the need for additional infrastructure.

To learn more about AI ScaleNet’s development process and potential applications, Samsung Newsroom interviewed Kwangpyo Choi and Youngo Park – researchers from Samsung Research’s Visual Technology team, and the first individuals to suggest and develop this type of innovative technology.

Supporting More 8K Content

AI ScaleNet utilizes deep learning technology to minimize data loss during compression and enable 8K content to be streamed on networks with lower bandwidth capabilities.

Here’s how it works, in a nutshell: 8K content is compressed to 4K quality using an AI downscaler and transmitted to the user’s TV, which utilizes AI to upscale the content back to 8K quality. When asked to describe the inspiration for the technology, Choi specified a need for a new video compression and transmission technology in order to accommodate the ever-evolving media landscape, and to address related technical challenges.

“Multimedia content is rapidly moving online, so figuring out how to overcome bandwidth limitations for UHD content transmission has become a major task,” said Choi.

“With AI ScaleNet, users will be able to enjoy 8K-quality content, even at lower bandwidths,” added Park. “In fact, during periods of high network traffic, when speeds tend to drop, viewers can still expect content to be presented at a relatively higher quality.”

AI ScaleNet addresses bandwidth limitations within modern network infrastructures with what’s known as an adaptive AI Codec. “AI Adaptive Bit Rate Streaming refers to AI technology that adapts to various bandwidths and adjusts the resolution to enable seamless streaming,” said Choi.

The difference the technology makes is especially clear when using over-the-top (OTT) services, where viewers typically notice changes in picture quality. As Choi explained, however, Samsung’s AI Codec and AI ScaleNet technology utilize AI that adapts to changes in bandwidth and optimizes quality, so users enjoy the highest-quality streaming experience possible.

A Groundbreaking Innovation

As the researchers described, the development process wasn’t without its difficulties. “The most difficult part was ensuring compatibility with existing codec compression technologies,” said Choi. “How to design an easy-to-use algorithm that would be compatible with existing technologies, while delivering the intended performance at the same time was the question.”

Choi also noted difficulties that derived from gaps in perspective between the research and development teams. There were several considerations related to complexity, design and structure which researchers took for granted, and were questioned by the developers.

“We were able to achieve this result thanks to the synergy of both our team members, who worked closely to achieve the same goal, and colleagues who were focused on the technology’s commercialization,” said Park. “I believe that AI ScaleNet is the first technology to overcome bandwidth limitations by addressing complexity issues and separating the server and client sides, respectively. It’s relatively difficult to commercialize AI technology today for the purpose of enhancing resolution, which is different from commercializing AI for recognition and classification.”

Empowering Richer User Experiences with AI Technology

When asked how AI technology will contribute to the advancement of TV technologies in general, the researchers pointed to two possible directions.

“The first would be greater user convenience, and the second would be enhanced picture quality,” Choi began. “The first point is already being delivered with Bixby. To enhance people’s viewing experiences, technologies that support the best possible picture quality at minimum bandwidth, such as AI ScaleNet, should be continuously researched and developed.”

As the researchers noted, Samsung has big plans for this versatile technology. “AI ScaleNet has shown us that by overcoming challenges, we can help usher in the future and enrich the user experience,” said Park. “Going forward, we will continue to research and develop additional functionalities that add to users’ convenience, and through cooperation with content service providers, we hope to empower diverse services for Samsung devices.”

Samsung R&D Institute Poland at IWSLT 2019

2019 marks the third year in a row that Samsung R&D Institute Poland, in partnership with the U.K.’s University of Edinburgh (UEDIN), has received accolades at the International Workshop on Spoken Language Translation (IWSLT), one of the top two global workshops on automatic language translation, along with the Workshop on Machine Translation (WMT). This year, Samsung R&D Institute Poland won first place in two categories, the first being text-to-text translation from English to Czech and the second – an end-to-end system translating English speech into German text.

For the text-to-text translation category, researchers worked to develop a model to translate the transcript of a spoken English-language TED Talk into Czech. Developing their winning model required the Samsung team to develop large, filtered corpora from which to work and generate as much synthetic data as possible. The work done by the Samsung R&D Institute Poland team, together with additional modeling help from UEDIN, was selected as the best in the challenge by human evaluators. This means that the translations produced by Samsung R&D Institute Poland’s system scored the highest both in fluency and adequacy.

Samsung R&D Institute Poland’s participation in their second winning category this year, the end-to-end translation system from English to German, was a first for the team. The task was to produce a German-language transcription of an English-language TED Talk audio recording. This task required the development of a single model that could take an audio file input and subsequently produce a translated transcription. It was made more difficult by the deficiency of the provided audio sources, compared to typical speech recognition task. Samsung R&D Institute Poland proposed several innovative methods for end-to-end speech translation that mitigated this source paucity, obtaining a state-of-the-art result with their final system that won them first place in the challenge.

Samsung Research America at ICCV 2019

This October, researchers from Samsung Research America’s AI Center received first place in the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV)’s challenge: Linguistic Meets Image and Video Retrieval (Fashion IQ). ICCV is a premier international computer vision conference that took place in Seoul, Korea, this year.

The challenge Samsung Research America AI Center took part in, sponsored by IBM research, aims to develop conversational shopping assistants that are more natural and real-world applicable. The task given to Samsung Research America AI Center‘s team, the ‘Superraptors’, belonged to the domain of image retrieval. In the task, an input query was specified in the form of a candidate image as well as in two natural language expressions that describe the visual differences of the search target. The goal of this challenge was to gather opinions and experience from researchers on the emerging space of visual content retrieval with a natural language interface.

Samsung Research America AI Center’s submission to the challenge, “Multimodal Ensemble of Diverse Models for Image Retrieval Using Natural Language Feedback”, blended the given data in different modalities with multiple deep learning models. The team’s win marks the first time a Samsung Research team has won a multimodal (language and vision) challenge; previously, Samsung AI Center Moscow, Samsung R&D Institute Poland and Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing have received awards in single modality challenges.

Intelligent Recommendations for Informed Cooking

For this year’s IFA Club des Chefs cooking show, Chef Michel Roux Jr. was in charge of preparing the appetizer and dessert while Chef Michel Troisgros took responsibility for the entrée.

Chef Roux Jr. used the Quick View Inside feature of the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator to quickly and easily check what ingredients were available inside the refrigerator. Quick View Inside is an upgraded feature of the latest version of the Family Hub that lets users use the refrigerator’s View Inside feature no matter what page or app they have been visiting. Chef Roux Jr. demonstrated to the audience that Quick View Inside was accessible simply by dragging down the upper scroll bar of the refrigerator’s screen with three fingers, an intuitive upgraded user interface feature.

Chef Roux Jr. (right) demonstrates the time-saving qualities of Family Hub, which allowed him to easily and quickly check what ingredients were inside the refrigerator ahead of preparing his dishes.

Minimized Cooking Time, Maximum Efficiency

Moving on to the preparation of his two dishes, Chef Roux Jr. took advantage of the flexibility offered by Samsung’s Dual Cook Flex Oven as he was able to simultaneously bake choux buns for the dessert whilst also cooking the appetizer, a pissaladière. Given that choux buns require a hotter cooking temperature than a pissaladière, Chef Roux Jr. was able to cook the two dishes separately in the upper and lower compartments of the Dual Cook Flex Oven, meaning they could cook independently yet at the same time at different temperatures. Chef Roux Jr. was also able to check on each dish in its separate compartment without disturbing the other, thanks to the Dual Cook Flex Oven’s versatile Flexible Door.

Chef Roux Jr. explains to the MC and the Club des Chefs audience how the Dual Cook Flex Oven saves users time thanks to its separate upper and lower compartments.

When it came to Chef Troisgros’ turn to prepare his entrée, Chef Troisgros was able to minimize food preparation time thanks to the Dual Flex Zone Plus’s cooktop, which meant that he could cook potatoes two different ways simultaneously – one in a pot and one in a wide steamer. The audience was impressed with how, thanks to its expansive, open dual-zone surface, the Dual Flex Zone Plus offers chefs maximum efficiency and flexibility when cooking with different sizes of cookware at the same time.

AI-Powered Kitchen Assistance with Bot Chef

For the preparation of the sauce of the entrée, the Club des Chef’s latest sous-chef made its appearance — Samsung Bot Chef. The audience was impressed to see how Samsung’s AI-powered kitchen assistant robot — also called a cobot — was able to independently work on a variety of tasks, including seasoning the sauce with salt, stirring the contents of the pan and even taking hold of a utensil and offering up a spoonful of the sauce for the Chefs to taste.

Bot Chef assists Chef Troisgros (center) in preparing a sauce by taking hold of a utensil and stirring, top image, and seasoning the pan’s contents with salt.

The audience was eager to hear from the event MC and Chefs how Bot Chef uses an extensible AI-powered system that users can command, with new skills available via download from Samsung’s robot skills ecosystem. Bot Chef can be instructed either by simple voice command or through app-based controls, and is able to assist with tasks throughout the cooking process, from preparation – cutting or stirring food – to plating and seasoning.

During Bot Chef’s presentation, the Club des Chefs cooking show audience witnessed not only how this innovative artificial intelligence-assisted technology helped with cooking, but also how Samsung’s mobile ecosystem capabilities create a seamless connectivity throughout the cooking process across Samsung’s home appliance devices.

Premium Connectivity for the Modern Kitchen

As the show was drawing to a close, the MC invited Chef Troisgros and Chef Roux Jr. to join her for a selfie to commemorate the event. The photo was then easily transferred from a Samsung smartphone to the Family Hub’s Family Board to be displayed for all.

The audience left the cooking event full of ideas as to how Samsung’s smart kitchen appliances, driven by AI and IoT functionality, can seamlessly integrate into their own kitchens. Thanks to their premium contemporary design and intelligent support capabilities, Samsung smart kitchens are creating brighter futures for busy modern families today.

Samsung Research’s R&D Institute Poland Team

Samsung Research’s R&D Institute China-Beijing Team

For Task 1 – Subtask B, testing acoustic scene classification with mismatched recording devices, Samsung Research’s R&D Institute Poland won the first place. For Task 1 – Subtask C which tests open set acoustic scene classification, Samsung Research’s R&D Institute China-Beijing, in partnership with Beijing University of Post and Telecommunication (BUPT), won the first place while Samsung Research Institute Poland received the second place.

The goal of Subtask B and C of Task 1 (Acoustic Scene Classification) was to classify a test recording into one of the provided predefined classes that characterizes the environment in which it was recorded. In addition to this, Subtask C also asked participants to detect undefined acoustic scene from the 10 target classes. The recordings were taken in 12 large European cities and represented 10 categories: airport, indoor shopping mall, metro station, pedestrian street, public square, street with medium level of traffic, traveling by tram, traveling by bus, traveling by underground metro, and urban park.

In addition, Samsung Research’s R&D Institute Poland was recognized as the best team in Task 3 measuring sound event localization and detection. The goal of Task 3 was to jointly localize and recognize individual sound events and their durations. This technology has a wide variety of applications, including robots and AI speakers.

Sounds carry a large amount of information about our everyday environment and physical events that take place around us.¹ We’re now able to perceive the sound scene we’re in -such as a busy street, and even identify individual sounds such as a baby crying. This technology could help design intelligent monitoring systems that recognize activities in their environment by acoustic information.

The objective of Audio Intelligence at Samsung Research, the advanced research & development hub of the company’s SET (End-products) Business, is to improve the technology so that it can better pick out individual sounds even in environments with other background noise distractions.

¹ http://dcase.community/challenge2019/

Visitors to the exhibit can get up-close with the company’s design and lifestyle innovations and discover new trends for 2019, like Samsung’s new Tuscan Stainless Steel options, which were inspired by earthy tones and combine a variety of natural hues to bring a completely new neutral color to the market. Take a virtual tour around the booth in the video below.

The company introduced four new innovations tailored to our future lifestyles: ‘Samsung Bot Chef’, an arm-shaped AI-powered chef’s assistant; ‘Chef Garden’, an AI farming platform; ‘Samsung Bot Clean’, an intelligent and interactive robotic vacuum cleaner; and ‘Samsung GEMS’, a wearable walking-assistance robot.

The exhibition will reveal the company’s vision for the future, with a range of cutting-edge lifestyle concepts on display. At the event, Samsung is unveiling the newest addition to its intelligent robotic Bots lineup, alongside several devices first showcased in January at CES 2019.

Samsung Bot Chef

We can all appreciate an extra pair of hands in the kitchen, sharing the burden of the laborious and repetitive tasks that go into creating delicious meals. First unveiled at KBIS 2019, Samsung Bot Chef is an AI-powered chef’s assistant – a “cobot”, or collaborative robot – that assists them as they whip up gourmet dishes. Bot Chef is designed to be easy to use and highly versatile, with a sleek exterior that hides its advanced mechatronics.

Bot Chef is optimized for kitchen use and is capable of a wide range of kitchen tasks – from chopping and whisking, to pouring and cleaning. Based on SARAM, Samsung’s multi-purpose programmable robotic platform, the lightweight robotic manipulator arm has six degrees of freedom, with the diameter, reach and safety of a human arm. This allows it to perform with a payload just enough to lift common, everyday kitchen items, making it ideal for homes and small businesses. With advanced internal and external sensors and AI-based planning algorithms, the Bot Chef works alongside a person safely, even when they get in each other’s way.

Users can interact with the robotic arm using simple and intuitive voice commands. Meanwhile, the underlying AI and machine-learning skills platform allows users to easily program tasks to perform using voice control, physical manipulation and app-based controls, thereby creating new “skills”. New skills can also be downloaded, customized and shared as part of the online ecosystem, providing endless possibilities in the kitchen. To stir a pot of soup, for example, a user can download the “stirring” skill from the skills ecosystem. Bot Chef can autonomously understand the location of objects, so the user can tell it where to find the spoon, and which pot to stir.

Chef Garden

Many cooks will tell you that there is a certain kind of joy that only fresh, locally sourced ingredients can bring. When it comes to fruit and vegetables, the freshest and most flavorful are home-grown. Chef Garden, debuting at KBIS 2019, aims to provide a farm-to-table experience in the comfort of your own home, with an AI farming platform that effortlessly produces fresh, pesticide-free fruit and vegetables all year round.

Chef Garden integrates seamlessly with the next generation of Samsung Family Hub, using the power and water connections already provided to the refrigerator. To grow their plants, users can choose from a wide variety of seed capsules and place them in the Growing Zone, which applies fogponics technology to create a nutrient fog that delivers water and nutrients to the plants, saving water and keeping the inside of the Growing Zone clean. Chef Garden can control conditions to ensure an optimal environment for growth, making predictions about growth status and controlling harvest time. Thanks to its integration with Family Hub, the platform can also recommend recipes based on the fruit and vegetables that are ready to harvest, as well as the items already in the fridge, helping to minimize waste.

GEMS: Gait Enhancing and Muscle Strengthening

Our bodies are our true homes – and strong muscles are vital to ensure these homes run smoothly. Samsung GEMS was originally developed to help the elderly improve their mobility by applying assistive forces to their lower-limb joints, synchronized with their movements. GEMS has three versions, each assisting a different joint: GEMS-H, GEMS-K and GEMS-A target the hip, knee and ankle, respectively.

In-depth clinical studies for GEMS-H have shown that it can enhance the gait efficiency and stability resulting in more dynamic and balanced walking, as well as a dramatic reduction in energy consumption. With these insights, we decided to expand the scope of its applications from rehabilitation alone to providing proactive musculoskeletal healthcare for everyday users. GEMS-K was designed to reduce the impactive load at the knee joint, the main cause of knee pain when standing up or walking on the stairs. It is expected that it will provide particular relief to osteoarthritis patients as they perform their daily tasks. GEMS-A was devised to support the ankle joint, assisting push-off as the user moves forward and preventing foot-drop, thus helping those who are suffering from hemiplegia caused by stroke aftereffects.

The GEMS series is subject to continuous innovation, with constant improvements in comfort, affordability and personalization, thanks to a synergetic fusion of cutting-edge technologies in robotics, biomechanics and AI.

Samsung Bot Air and Bot Clean

Housework can seem like a never-ending task. What’s more, you might move your air purifier from room to room without knowing if you are targeting the right location or vacuum the same spot repeatedly while missing those hard-to-reach corners.

Making use of sensors throughout the house to gauge air quality, the Samsung Bot Air will move directly to the source of unclean air and begin purifying the area. Users can see the real-time improvement of indoor air quality through its intuitive lighting effects, which go from red for bad air quality to green for fresh air. Taking cleaning to the next level, the Bot Clean is an intelligent and interactive robotic vacuum cleaner that was newly revealed at KBIS 2019. The device can express its current status using its motions and eyes and utilizes LiDAR sensors to navigate a room autonomously, with SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) functionality that scans the area to map out its route.

The present and future collide at Samsung Electronics’ CES 2019 booth, where visitors are invited to test out the company’s newest innovations, and experience its cutting-edge technologies of tomorrow.

Combining Samsung’s AI platform, Bixby, with its latest advancements in hardware, software and user experience (UX) design, the company’s newly announced lineup of robots presents an exciting vision for the future of AI technology, and offers innovative solutions for issues related to health care and the environment.

From A to Z, Samsung Bot Care Looks After User’s Daily Lives

Samsung Bot Care specializes in helping user manage their daily health routine. It’s capable of measuring user’s blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and more, and can alert user’s when they need to take their medicine. It also notifies accredited family members when elderly user is experiencing an emergency, and support video calls for real-time communication.

Samsung Bot Care is additionally capable of tracking user’s sleep, and greet in the morning with an analysis of sleep patterns. It also informs the weather forecast and schedule for the day, and plays music that fits user’s mood.

Samsung Bot Air: a Self-Operating, Air-Purifying Robot

While demand for clean air is high, moving an air purifier from one room to another can be a real hassle.

That’s where Samsung’s new air-purifying robot, Samsung Bot Air, comes in. The robot utilizes sensors located in different areas of the user’s house – including one on an electronic appliance – to assess air quality. Once it identifies an area where the air quality is low, it automatically moves to where it’s needed and gets to work.

Samsung Bot Retail: a Personal Shopping Guide

The enterprise-focused Samsung Bot Retail allows stores to offer their customers a more personalized and convenient retail experience.

The Samsung Bot Retail helps customers find the items they need by registering their facial expressions and voices. Its awareness of surroundings allows it to navigate environment – even when it’s crowded – and guide customers to the area or items they’re looking for. The front-facing display can display menus or store details, and allows customers to purchase items comfortably and easily. Restaurants and stores can also use the robot to deliver food or items to their customers using the shelves on the robot’s back.

Samsung GEMS: Muscle Strengthening and Posture Training

Strong muscles are an essential part of a healthy life. Samsung GEMS (Gait Enhancing & Motivating System) can assist users who have trouble walking, running or standing up, such as the elderly, by preventing their muscles from being overworked.

General users can also use Samsung GEMS to correct their posture or enhance their exercise capabilities. According to their individual needs, users can select any of Samsung GEMS’ three available devices, designed for hips, knees, and ankles.

Considering CES 2019 as a starting point, Samsung plans to develop customized robots for users with a shared robotics platform based on its AI technology.

“Our plan is to gauge consumers’ demand for robots, consider ways to create solutions for societal challenges, and accelerate our development efforts,” said Seung Hwan Cho, Deputy Head of Samsung Research. “People can look forward to the future that Samsung Bots will help create.”

Samsung has designed a number of safety solutions for driving that can be incorporated into various kinds of vehicles in the near future. As seen in the video above, detecting cars, pedestrians and traffic signals in front of the school bus, the Front Facing Camera alerts the driver to any hazards on the road and prompts them to proceed with caution and care. The monitoring systems can identify students whenever they hop on and off the bus, showing the driver who is safely aboard.

*This video is for the purpose of describing the concept and use cases of C-V2X technology.
The simulated use cases may be different in operation of actual vehicle.

C-V2X technology offers the next level in automotive telecommunications. Harnessing Samsung’s unique technologies for smartphone and network areas, C-V2X works via the vehicle’s Telematics Control Unit (TCU). The TCU connects the car to its surroundings and provides real-time information about unexpected variables and potential hazards beyond the driver’s line of sight, thus offering up exciting possibilities for safety when driving.

CES 2019 has officially begun, and Samsung’s booth is abuzz with people eager to get a closer look at the company’s latest groundbreaking innovations.

Located in the heart of the Las Vegas Convention Center, ‘Samsung City’ is a must-see site for attendees of the tech industry’s biggest event. With ‘districts’ showcasing the company’s newest TVs, monitors, appliances and more, this innovative hub allows visitors to experience, firsthand, Samsung technologies that are taking AI, IoT and connectivity to the next level – and changing the way people live, work and connect.

If you won’t be able to make it to CES to see the company’s innovations in person, don’t fret. Here’s a handy roundup of five key themes that sum up this year’s showcase.

#1 Appliances Get Better with Bixby

Many of the innovations on display in the booth demonstrate dynamic ways that the latest version of Samsung’s intelligent platform, Bixby, will change how people manage daily life.

Housework is a breeze with Bixby-enabled appliances, which allow users to easily automate common household tasks and take the guesswork out of others. For example, when users place their clothes into Samsung’s new Air Dresser, Bixby helps the device select the optimal setting to treat them. It can also help users find the perfect cycle to finish their laundry with the new WF6300R Front Load Washer. Once the laundry load is done, Bixby will automatically set the dryer to the appropriate setting.

In the kitchen, Family Hub’s Bixby integration allows users to streamline everything from meal prep to entertainment. Whether you want to preheat the oven or find a delicious new recipe, with Bixby’s voice support, all you have to do to is say the word.

And thanks to its deep integration with Samsung’s 2019 QLED TVs, you can also command Bixby to tell you more about a particular show or film you’re watching, manage playback controls, and help you find more content you’ll love.

#2 Samsung’s Steering the Future of Display Technology

Speaking of TVs, Samsung kicked off CES 2019 with the reveals of a number of innovative displays that demonstrate how the company is leading the future of this technology – setting new standards for immersion, and making the screen ‘the center of the AI era‘.

Perhaps the most eye-catching addition is the new, 219-inch, 6K version of Samsung’s modular Micro LED display, The Wall. The follow-up to last year’s debut model seamlessly blends into any space – whether it be as a 219-inch 6K screen, a 16:9, 146-inch 4K display, or a 21:9 aspect ratio wide screen. It also features a fresh new user interface, as well as Samsung’s Quantum Processor 8K chip – the industry’s first AI-powered picture-processing engine.

With the push of a button, visitors to the interactive exhibit can see for themselves how the revolutionary processor, which is featured throughout Samsung’s 2019 QLED 8K lineup, upscales any content – regardless of the native resolution – to near-pristine 8K quality.

The combination of pristine QLED picture quality and likewise beautiful aesthetics allow Samsung’s newest lifestyle TVs, The Frame and Serif TV, to offer a TV experience unlike any other. Both feature award-winning designs that elevate the décor of any living space, as well as enhanced smart features that offer users greater control over their content.

#3 Taking Gaming to the Next Level

Visitors to Samsung City will find plenty of fun and excitement, especially when they see what Samsung has in store for gamers.

When gaming, a monitor’s performance can mean the difference between experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Samsung optimized its new, 49-inch CRG9 gaming monitor with gamers’ needs in mind, combining standout specs – including HDR10 support, a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and a 5120 x 1440 resolution – to offer users an edge over the competition.

The result of the company’s efforts is the world’s first Dual QHD super ultra-wide gaming monitor, and an official Honoree in the CES 2019 Innovation Awards’ Gaming and Computer Peripherals product categories, respectively. Visitors to the booth can see for themselves how the monitor’s premium performance, immersive design and comfort-enhancing features elevate the entire gaming experience.

Also featured in the showcase is the latest addition to Samsung’s powerhouse lineup of gaming laptops: the new Notebook Odyssey. This year’s model is packed with enhancements that foster next-level gaming experiences, including a flawlessly smooth 144 Hz G-Sync display, an innovative Jet Blade cooling system that ensures smooth performance during heavy gameplay, and other performance-minded enhancements.

#4 Shifting the Connected Car from Concept to Reality

Samsung’s CES 2019 lineup demonstrates exciting ways that the company is steering the future of connected technologies. And perhaps no single exhibit encapsulates Samsung’s role as a driver of innovation quite so effectively as the demo for the latest version of its Digital Cockpit platform.

This year, Samsung is inviting CES 2019 attendees to experience for themselves how the company’s latest advancements in 5G, AI and IoT technologies have allowed it to create a connected car experience that not only adds new layers of comfort to users’ daily routines, but is also seamless, intelligent, and above all, safe.

Hands-on demos illustrate how the platform’s Bixby and SmartThings support offers users seamlessly control over their home’s IoT devices when they’re in the car, in addition to enabling them to easily manage key vehicle functions from home. The platform also takes personalization to the next level – tailoring seat, temperature and entertainment settings to each passenger – and is compatible with a front-facing camera and driver-monitoring system that helps drivers focus on the road and drive safely.

The exhibit also includes an eye-catching diorama that allows guests to see exactly how Samsung’s connected driving and C-V2X (Cellular-Vehicle to Everything) technologies will transform cities just like theirs, helping people commute more safely and efficiently.

#5 Robotic Companions Are on Their Way

The robotic companions that Samsung is showcasing at this year’s event were created to enrich users’ lives, and help make a positive impact in the world by offering solutions for societal challenges affecting the ageing population, and even the environment.

Samsung City hosts a total of four different types of robots, which are being developed for use in fields ranging from elder care to retail. Enlightening demonstrations introduce the first exciting products of the company’s ‘Samsung Bot’ robotics platform, as well as the mobility-focused Samsung GEMS.

(From Left) Samsung Bot Retail, Samsung Bot Care, Samsung Bot Air. The three Samsung Bots were debuted at CES 2019.

Samsung Bot Care is the healthcare-specialized robot, which can measure user’s blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and sleeping state, and is even capable of reminding them when it’s time to take their medicine. The Samsung Bot lineup also includes Samsung Bot Retail, which streamlines ordering and payments and offers a personalized retail experience and Samsung Bot Air, which uses sensors to detect the precise source of pollution and purify the air.

Short for “Gait Enhancing and Motivating System,” Samsung GEMS assists users with walking, and can also help them strengthen their muscles and improve their mobility and balance.

And thus concludes our roundup of Samsung’s key themes for CES 2019. If you happen to be attending this year’s event, be sure to stop by the company’s booth to experience these and other dynamic innovations for yourself. And don’t forget to stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for more updates on the company’s latest technologies.

Pavel Ostyakov, one of the researchers from SAIC-Moscow, won first place among 110 teams in the “Inclusive Images Challenge,” a Kaggle¹ competition hosted by Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2018, which took place in Montreal, Canada from December 3^rd to the 8^th. NeurIPS, formerly known as NIPS, is the world’s largest conference in the field of AI and machine learning. In 2017, over 8,000 researchers and scientists attended the event. In addition to those in machine learning and neuroscience research, experts from many related fields such as cognitive science, computer vision, statistical linguistics, and information theory actively participate in the conference. Winning the challenge at this prestigious event was a significant achievement for both Pavel and Samsung. Pavel was also named a Kaggle Grandmaster, which is the highest tier possible for contributors, and is currently ranked as one of the world’s top five scientists on Kaggle.

In the “Inclusive Images Challenge,” participants developed image recognition and classifier models that can successfully perform image classification tasks even when the test images are geographically and culturally different from the previously shown images in the provided dataset.

(Left image, from left) Pavel Ostyakov, a Researcher at Samsung AI Center-Moscow (SAIC-Moscow), and Jin Wook Lee, the Head of Samsung R&D Institute Russia. (Right image) A snapshot of SAIC-Moscow’s opening ceremony, which took place in May of this year

For example, an image classifier may fail to properly apply “wedding” related labels, such as “bride,” “groom,” and “celebration,” to an image, if a couple is not wearing traditional western European wedding attires or colors. This challenge attempts to address the biases in previously existing algorithms and classifier models. Through the challenge, researchers can identify ways to teach image classifiers to generalize the accumulated data and apply them in new geographic and cultural contexts. The expectation is that the scientific community will make even more progress in inclusive machine learning that benefits everyone, everywhere.

Such competitions reflect the movement towards realization of ethical and non-discriminatory AI, which also aligns with Samsung’s goal and vision. To this end, Samsung has recently joined the Partnership on AI (PAI) to take part in the development of inclusive, fair, and responsible AI technology.

Last September, the SAIC-Moscow team also participated in “The 2nd YouTube-8M Video Understanding Challenge,” hosted by the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) 2018. ECCV is one of the world’s top research conferences in the area of computer vision, held biennially. In this Kaggle competition, researchers were provided with public YouTube-8M training and validation datasets that consist of millions of videos with labels, and then asked to develop classification algorithms to accurately predict the labels for 700,000 previously unseen YouTube videos. The SAIC-Moscow team utilized a unique approach in its complex model and data analysis, taking second place by a very narrow margin.

An exterior view of the White Square Business Center, where SAIC-Moscow is located

“We love these competitions because they provide us with opportunities to measure ourselves against the best in the AI industry,” said Pavel Ostyakov at SAIC-Moscow. “Researchers at Samsung are obsessed with making AI a part of everyday lives. So, it is exciting to take part in the challenges where we can contribute our skills to develop the technology.”

The global AI centers reflect Samsung’s commitment to next-generation AI development. Besides Russia, there are six others located across the globe – Korea, Silicon Valley and New York in the U.S., Toronto and Montreal in Canada, and Cambridge, the U.K. Each location is conducting research, focused on a different area of unique strengths. These AI centers are playing a pivotal role in realizing Samsung’s vision for human-centric AI technologies and products.

¹An online community allowing users to find and publish datasets, explore and build models in a web-based data-science environment, work with others, and enter competitions to solve data science challenges.

Samsung Electronics’ artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are being recognized globally in a competitive field with top researchers all seeking to dominate. Samsung Research, the advanced R&D arm of Samsung Electronics’ device business, has won recent competitions, which will be vital in ultimately rolling out AI in more real-world situations than ever.

In October, Samsung Research’s R&D Institute Poland (SRPOL), in partnership with University of Edinburgh of the U.K., won first place at the International Workshop on Spoken Language Translation (IWSLT), one of the world’s most renowned and longest-running automatic language translation workshops. IWSLT sits alongside the Workshop on Machine Translation (WMT) as the most prestigious competitions in the space. The IWSLT win is the second consecutive time that the Poland research center has topped the workshop.

Every June, IWSLT provides permissible training data sets and allows test run submissions from participants, evaluating the submitted runs with automatic metrics. This year, IWSLT featured two tasks: Low Resource Machine Translation and Speech Translation. SRPOL participated in the first sector, aiming to discover new technologies that can help overcome low-resource situations with scarcity in not only data but also in time and cost that are often required to use AI for multilingual translation.

Samsung’s task was using AI technology to translate text from Basque to English. The SRPOL team was first provided with limited amount of data – about a million Basque-to-English parallel data sets in the form of movie subtitles – to train and develop the algorithm model. Then, the team used this data to translate TED Talks given in Basque into English. Despite the difficulty of proposed translation direction and scarce data, when compared with the reference translations, SRPOL received the highest Bilingual Evaluation Understudy score (BLEU) of 26.21 – showing a high level of correspondence of the machine translation to the reference – and a significantly low error rate.

Samsung Research’s R&D Institute Poland (SRPOL) team

On the bordering country of Ukraine, Samsung’s AI expertise is being applied successfully within the automotive field. Samsung R&D Institute Ukraine (SRK) submitted a solution that it developed to detect pedestrians for the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (KITTI) Vision Benchmark Suite, one of the top three benchmarking organizations for automotive driving technology, in August. KITTI sits alongside Caltech Pedestrian and CityScapes as the leading benchmarking institutions.

Among the nine KITTI categories including Stereo, Objects, Tracking, Road and more – SRK submitted its computer vision technology SiRtaKi in the ‘Pedestrian Tracking’ category. Since the submission, the solution has been recognized as the best in the field, retaining its top position on the leaderboard.

To enter the competition in the ‘Pedestrian Tracking’ category, AI algorithms are tested on their capabilities to not only detect objects but trace their movements – an upgrade from the previous technologies where only detection was possible. Likewise, SRK downloaded roughly 3,400 raw images of pedestrian movements from KITTI to run SiRtaKi which employs a tracking-by-detection approach. The team, using SiRtaKi, obtained and analyzed each passerby’s coordination and traveling direction countless times. As a result, SRK’s rigorous work paid off as they received the best score among competitors for a high level of accuracy in the object tracking.

Needless to say, such AI technology is expected to help create new possibilities in the automotive industry – that it can be implemented in autonomous sensors to detect nearby pedestrians and objects’ movements and reduce danger on the roads. Adding on, the new algorithm will also be applied in our daily lives like home appliances and also in the to-be-developed next-generation technologies.

Samsung R&D Institute Ukraine (SRK) team

It doesn’t end here. Last July, Samsung Research placed first in two of the world’s prestigious AI reading competitions, the MAchine Reading COmprehension (MS MARCO) Competition held by Microsoft and TriviaQA hosted by the University of Washington. To date, Samsung is still ranked first in the Web category of TriviaQA. And in March, Samsung R&D Institute China-Beijing (SRC-B) made mark in AI development in computer vision (technologies in analysis of characters and images), winning the International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR), a global competition in Optical Character Recognition technologies.

“So much innovation took place by Samsung Electronics from all over the world. With multiple achievements in the world’s prestigious AI-related competitions, Samsung is leading the development of artificial intelligence and the related technologies on a global level,” said Seunghwan Cho, Vice President of Samsung Research. “We will continue to contribute to realizing a highly user-centric environment by applying the groundbreaking AI technology to our current products and services.”

Today’s announcement complements earlier news of multiple AI centers launched in North America and continues Samsung’s efforts in AI that include the development of Samsung’s virtual assistant, Bixby. The center is the fourth Samsung AI Center to be established in North America following the centers launched in Silicon Valley, New York and Toronto.

The opening of the AI center in Montreal will allow Samsung to expand its outpost for industry collaboration and talent recruitment in a major AI hub in Canada, dedicated to research and development of core AI technologies that entail machine learning, language, vision and other multi-modal interactions.

At the opening event, there were about 100 guests in attendance including Marc Garneau, Canada’s Minister of Transportation; Philippe Tomlinson, mayor of Outremont and member of Montreal’s Development Commission; Seunghwan Cho, Executive Vice President of Samsung Research; Geunbae Lee, Head of Samsung AI Center in Seoul and Larry Heck, Head of AI Centers for Samsung Research America.

“By leveraging the power of AI in Samsung’s products and services, we must focus on creating new values, never seen nor experienced before,” said Seunghwan Cho. “To do this, seven Global AI Centers, including the Montreal AI Center, will play a pivotal role.”

During the event, Samsung presented its future vision for AI as it aims to develop a highly personalized multi-device platform that empowers people to accomplish more in their lives. By providing multiple touchpoints where a user can interact with AI, not only through voice, Samsung’s multi-modal interaction platform (voice, vision, screen, touch) will make experiences more relevant and personal in the future.

“One key element that will move AI to being more widely adopted is multi-device systems—i.e., a variety of AI-enabled devices that communicate seamlessly with each other,” said Dr. Heck. “Samsung is uniquely positioned to be a leader in this regard. It’s not just how each device uses AI, it’s how they use it together.”

Key contributing factors for the location include the availability of key AI talent, including leading AI researchers at McGill University and the University of Montreal who have had longstanding relationships with Samsung. Greater Montreal has emerged as a powerhouse in AI research, housing 250 researchers and 9000 university students in related programs. Establishing an AI Center in Greater Montreal also enables Samsung to better collaborate with regional start-ups and expand the current ecosystem.

“This new research Center will help make artificial intelligence more accessible right here in Montreal. It will open the door for collaboration and grow opportunities for our universities and our businesses,” said Minister Garneau.

The mayor of Montreal also celebrated the news. “Montreal is a vibrant and creative city with well-known academic institutions and some of the highest standards in quality of life allowing us to attract some of the best talents around the world. Samsung’s AI Center reinforces Montreal’s unique position and reputation as a global leader in the field of artificial intelligence. Their work with faculties, students, and the broader academic community highlights the city’s international reach and the strengths of a business ecosystem that is firmly focused on collaboration, research and innovation,” said Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal International.

Dr. Gregory Dudek, Head of the Montreal AI Center

Dr. Gregory Dudek, of the McGill University School of Computer Science and an expert in a wide range of AI technologies from machine learning to human-robot interactions, will lead the Montreal AI Center. “We are excited to open a new Samsung AI Center in Montreal, which will conduct research in machine learning and robotics enabled multi-modal interactions,” said Dr. Dudek. “As the second AI research facility in Canada, we plan to research in tandem with the Toronto AI Center, established in May, and leverage the tremendous AI talent in Montreal. We are also looking forward to collaborating with the top universities and academic institutions in the region.”

Earlier this year, Samsung has announced plans to expand its advanced AI research capabilities to 1,000 by 2020 when all Samsung products and services are expected to be AI enabled. The global AI Centers, which are also located in Korea, Russia, and the U.K, will contribute to Samsung’s AI research with their unique regional strengths, and Samsung plans to expand its AI research centers to other technology and talent-rich areas.

Located in the heart of Chelsea, the New York AI Center will be led by Daniel D. Lee, Executive Vice President of Samsung Research and a global authority in AI robotics, who joined Samsung Electronics last June. With cooperation from a leading authority in neuroscience-based AI technologies, H. Sebastian Seung, Executive Vice President of Samsung Research, the New York AI Center will spearhead the advanced AI research in robotics. As the Chief Research Scientist of Samsung Electronics, Seung will also advise Samsung on advanced AI research in developing future business growth opportunities.

“What we need now is to focus on creating new values that make people’s lives easier and more convenient by harnessing the power of AI in Samsung’s products and services,” said Hyun-suk Kim, President and Head of Samsung Research, the advanced R&D arm of Samsung Electronics’ device business. “To do this, our Global AI Centers, including the New York AI Center, must play a pivotal role.”

Samsung has announced plans to expand its advanced AI research capabilities to employ about 1,000 specialists by 2020. This will be Samsung’s sixth AI center around the world, and it will work in partnership with Samsung’s other AI research facilities. The additional AI centers are located in Korea, the U.K., Canada, Russia, and Silicon Valley, the U.S.

Daniel D. Lee, the Executive Vice President of Samsung Research, commemorates the AI Center on September 7, 2018 at the opening ceremony of the facility in New York City.

“We are excited to open a new Samsung AI center in New York, which will specialize in robotics research,” said Daniel D. Lee. “New York is one of the world’s great cities, and with this new facility we will be able to leverage the tremendous talent in the area. We also look forward to collaborating with top universities and academic centers in the region.”

The facility is located at 123 West 18^th St, New York. The facility’s opening ceremony was held on September 7^th in New York City, with about 100 guests in attendance including President Kim; Seunghwan Cho, Executive Vice President of Samsung Research; Geunbae Lee, Head of Samsung AI Center in Seoul; Professor Daniel P. Huttenlocher, the Dean of Cornell Tech; and Professor David Tank, Director of Princeton Neuroscience Institute.”

“The field of AI has made revolutionary progress by finally embracing neural networks,” said H. Sebastian Seung. “This is just the beginning of a new era of innovation in AI, and we at the Samsung AI research center in New York are proud to be part of this exciting quest.”

The global AI Centers will contribute to Samsung’s AI research with their unique regional strengths, and Samsung is expected to expand its AI centers to other technology and talent-rich areas to cement its place as a leader of AI research in the industry.

Attendees at the opening ceremony of Samsung’s AI Center in New York City come together to take a commemorative picture.

For more details on Samsung Research and the global AI Centers, please visit the official Samsung Research webpage at http://research.samsung.com.

Samsung also announced a set of initiatives to become a leading force in building and energizing the ecosystem of innovative businesses for the digital economy. By drawing on its well-established expertise in technology and start-up investments, Samsung will open up its venture incubation program to both external and internal start-up projects and provide software training.

Today’s announcement follows many months of deliberations and review by the management and board of directors of different Samsung companies that will make the investments, including Samsung Electronics.

Investing in Growth Businesses for the Future

Samsung expects innovations powered by AI technology will drive the industry’s transformation, while the next-generation 5G telecommunications technology will create new opportunities in autonomous driving, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics.

In AI, Samsung plans to significantly expand its research capability, increasing the number of advanced AI researchers to 1,000 across its global AI Centers. It will also invest aggressively to become a global player in the advanced markets for 5G chipsets and related devices and equipment.

Samsung aims to become a leader in electronics components for future cars such as system-on-chips for autonomous driving, utilizing its leadership in semiconductors, telecommunications and display technologies.

For biopharmaceuticals, Samsung has seen strong growth from both its contract manufacturing and biosimilar businesses. It will continue to invest heavily in the businesses, including developing and manufacturing biosimilars to combat chronic and difficult-to-cure diseases.

Separately, Samsung will increase its existing support of basic sciences to identify new growth opportunities, while widening the program to include areas of future technologies such as AI, 5G, IoT and biopharmaceuticals.

Investments for Technology Leadership

Overall, Samsung plans to invest a total of KRW 180 trillion over the next three years, including the spending on future growth businesses. The amount includes capital expenditures and R&D investments, and KRW130 trillion out of the total will be spent in Korea.

In semiconductors, Samsung will expand investments in manufacturing hubs, including in Pyeongtaek, to maintain global technology leadership and meet significant new demand from applications in AI, 5G, data centers and automotive electronics. In addition to investments for memory products, spending will include those for non-memory and new advanced manufacturing equipment.

For displays, investments will be increased to develop high-value, differentiated products amid rising competition in the industry.

Ongoing Commitment to Create Jobs

Together with the new investment, Samsung expects to create 40,000 new jobs over the next three years. This includes generating up to 20,000 additional new jobs on top of previous hiring plans, reflecting Samsung’s commitment to support youth employment.

Along with the direct employment, the investment in Korea is expected to help induce approximately 700,000 jobs in related industries and businesses.

Spurring Up Innovation Ecosystem in Digital Economy

Samsung aims to lead efforts to foster a vibrant ecosystem for innovations and growth, leveraging its technology and decades of experiences in creating successful businesses.

Samsung will expand its internal venture incubation program, C-Lab, which was introduced in 2012, to support external start-up projects. The platform will benefit 500 projects – 300 external candidates and 200 inside the company – in the next five years to encourage innovations and entrepreneurship.

In conjunction with the Korean government, Samsung will also set up and operate software education centers across the country, which will nurture much-needed software talent and help create new job opportunities. The centers will train 10,000 students and job candidates, and provide employment consulting services for the next five years.

Additionally, Samsung will strengthen joint research with leading higher education institutions in the area of semiconductor and other core technology.

Broadening Co-prosperity through Proven Programs

Samsung will boost its supplier support programs to a total of KRW 4 trillion, extending financing to more sub-contractors in the lower-level supply chain and increasing incentive payments. These programs will not only create stability within the supply chain, but also facilitate improvements within the partners.

Samsung will also increase the scale of its “Smart Factory” program, an initiative that provides automation solutions and intelligent upgrades for small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) manufacturing facilities.

The program has already helped 1,086 manufacturers switch to smart factories and create 4,600 jobs between 2015 and 2017, by improving productivity and generating growth. Samsung and the Korean government will jointly set up a new KRW 110 billion fund to help 2,500 SMEs for the next five years.

Samsung Research, the advanced R&D hub of Samsung Electronics’ SET (end-products) business, has ranked first in two of the world’s top global artificial intelligence (AI) machine reading comprehension competitions.

Samsung Research recently placed first in the MAchine Reading COmprehension (MS MARCO) Competition held by Microsoft (MS), as well as showing the best performance in TriviaQA^* hosted by the University of Washington, proving the excellence of its AI algorithm.

With intense competition in developing AI technologies globally, machine reading comprehension competitions such as MS MARCO are booming around the world. MS MARCO and TriviaQA are among the actively researched and used machine reading comprehension competitions along with SQuAD of Stanford University and NarrativeQA of DeepMind. Distinguished universities around the world and global AI firms including Samsung are competing in these challenges.

Machine reading comprehension is where an AI algorithm is tasked with analyzing data and finding an optimum answer to a query on its own accord. For MS MARCO and TriviaQA, AI algorithms are tested in their capabilities of processing natural language in human Q&As and also providing written text in various types of documents such as news articles and blog posts.

For example in MS MARCO, ten web documents are presented for a certain query to let an AI algorithm create an optimum answer. Queries are randomly selected from a million queries from Bing (MS search engine) users. Answers are evaluated statistically by estimating how close they are with human answers. This is a test designed to apply an AI algorithm to solve real-world problems.

Samsung Research took part in the competitions with ConZNet, an AI algorithm developed by the company’s AI Center. ConZNet features skillful capabilities through adopting the Reinforcement Learning^** technique, which advances machine intelligence by giving reasonable feedback for outcomes, similar to a stick-and-carrot strategy in a learning process.

With the recent acceleration in global competition to develop AI technologies, contests are widespread in areas of computer vision (technologies to analyze characters and images) and visual Q&A to solve problems using recognized images of characters as well as machine reading comprehension. The Beijing branch of Samsung Research won the International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR) hosted by the International Association of Pattern Recognition (IAPR) in March, putting them in a top-tier group for global computer vision tests. The ICDAR is the most influential competition in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies.

“We are developing an AI algorithm to provide answers to user queries in a simpler and more convenient manner, for real life purposes,” said Jihie Kim, Head of Language Understanding Lab at Samsung Research. “Active discussion is underway in Samsung to adopt the ConZNet AI algorithm for products, services, customer response and technological development.”

^* Competitions such as MS MARCO and TriviaQA allow contestants to participate at any time, and rankings are altered according to real-time test results.

^** The Reinforcement Learning is the most advanced Machine Learning AI algorithm, and cutting-edge AI technologies including AlphaGo are upgrading machine intelligence by applying this technique.

The new Center’s main research areas will be computer vision and basic algorithms for AI platform. The Center will also expand the field of AI for key areas such as robotics, intelligent driving assistance, as well as those for future projects by Samsung.

The Samsung AI Center in Russia will be led by Professor Dmitry Vetrov of the Higher School of Economics (HSE). With a Ph.D. degree in Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Vetrov is also the Head of Samsung’s laboratory at the Center for Deep Learning, and Bayesian Methods Research Group at the HSE.

Professor Dmitry Vetrov, the leader of Samsung AI Center Moscow, is delivering an introductory speech at the opening, May 29, 2018.

As the leader of the Center, Professor Vetrov will combine scientific work and administrative activities: interacting with Samsung’s divisions and third-party institutions, organizing the Center’s overall work, managing work groups, as well as controlling and participating in scientific research. Professor Viktor Lempitsky of the Skolkovo Institute of Science Technology will also join the team as the leader of the research group.

“Samsung has always been the first to introduce new products and solutions that change the way people interact. Considering Russia as one of the world’s biggest hubs in the field of technical sciences, it is only natural that we chose the country as one of the sites for our new AI Center,” said Ultack Kim, President of Samsung Electronics Headquarters in CIS countries. “A team of the world’s best scientists and IT specialists at the AI Center will help Samsung bring its robotics and AI technologies to a whole new level.”

While there currently are several joint AI laboratories at Moscow State University, the Higher School of Economics and the PDMI RAS, the new Center will establish additional joint labs with Russia’s leading universities. In addition, Samsung will conduct projects with the local universities and different regions of Russia including Kazan, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Tomsk, and Novosibirsk. Considerations regarding cooperation with Russian start-ups to solve practical problems are also under discussion. Moving forward, these can be developed into full-fledged services related to AI and machine learning, as well as promising developments in the field of applications and components for the company’s products.

“Samsung plans to introduce AI technologies to all of its connected devices and services by 2020. AI will enhance our customer value by offering information and services under any circumstances,” commented Jin Wook Lee, the Head of Samsung R&D Institute Russia, at the opening of the new Center. “This will be a huge step for the world of technology, and will help simplify the implementation of everyday tasks,” he added.

As the popularity of Internet of things (IoT) devices grows, the area of application of AI-based solutions is expanding rapidly. According to the forecast of Samsung experts, IoT devices with built-in AI will generate enormous amounts of data in the coming years. By processing this information, the devices will be able to provide maximum personalization and full compliance with the users’ needs.

“Currently, AI is one of the most promising branches of technology. The opening of the Samsung AI Center in Russia will allow us to contribute to the development of the industry and to apply the achievements of the Russian mathematical school, which has a high level of practical training of research specialists,” said Professor Vetrov.

Earlier in May, Samsung has opened two new AI Centers in Cambridge (UK) and Toronto (Canada). More information about Samsung AI Center in Russia and global AI Centers is available at Samsung Research website.

Located in Toronto’s downtown core at MaRS Discovery District, the new Samsung AI Centre will contribute to building the connected future by accelerating the adoption of intelligence on multiple devices ranging from household appliances to cars. The Toronto AI Centre is a part of a network of research Centres dedicated to research and development in the field of AI. The Centre is the second Samsung AI Centre to be established in North America, with the other in Mountain View, California. The North America AI Centres are led by senior vice president, Dr. Larry Heck, a renowned expert in machine learning for spoken and text language processing, who also co-leads the expansion of Samsung’s AI Centres around the globe.

“Toronto and the GTA are epi-centres of machine learning and one of the world’s foremost hubs for AI research and development. Home to not only world-class talent, but also some of the most innovative start-ups in the artificial intelligence field,” said Dr. Larry Heck, Co-Head of Global Artificial Intelligence Research. “We are looking forward to contributing to this vibrant AI community and to help push the field forward as we move towards our goal of making all Samsung connected devices intelligent by 2020.”

With a rich history in innovation and discovery, Toronto serves as an ideal place for research and development for speech recognition, where machine-learning technology was applied many years before it was widely applied to other fields. The vision is that the Samsung AI Centre will now serve an important role in the advancement of AI with a focus on language understanding and computer vision technologies that will ultimately reduce the friction between the user and the device/service, whether it be mobile phones, TVs, appliances, or cars.

The Toronto centre will be led by Dr. Sven Dickinson, newly appointed as the head of the Toronto lab, professor on leave and past chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. Dr. Dickinson is an expert in computer vision technologies, especially in the field of object recognition. He will play an integral part in Samsung’s research of core AI technologies that entail language, vision and other multi-modal interactions.

Hyun-suk Kim, President and Head of Samsung Research (front row, third from left), and Dr. Sven Dickinson, Head of Samsung’s new, Toronto-based AI Centre (front row, far right), pose for a photo with guests at the facility’s opening ceremony on May 24.

Samsung will officially celebrate today’s announcement of the Toronto AI Centre with an opening ceremony and presentations at MaRS Discovery District from key Samsung business leaders and special guests including Samsung’s CEO of Consumer Electronics,  Hyun-suk Kim, the Honourable.

François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade, Dr. Larry Heck, Senior Vice President of Samsung Research America, and key stakeholders and partners from major universities in Canada.

“Canadian ingenuity and innovation are getting noticed and together with our investments in skills and superclusters focused on next generation products like artificial intelligence, the world’s investors are choosing Canada. Congratulations to Toronto and to Samsung for recognizing Canada is the place to be!” said Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade.

Key contributing factors for the location selection include the availability of key AI talent, including leading AI researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo who have had longstanding relationships with Samsung. Establishing an AI Centre in Southern Ontario also enables Samsung to better collaborate with regional start-ups and expand the current ecosystem. As one of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs, MaRS Discovery district supports promising innovators and ventures tackling key challenges in the sectors of cleantech, finance & commerce, and work & learning. In addition, and importantly, the vast MaRS community fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration which drives breakthrough discoveries and a new solution for global audiences.

“We are proud to welcome Samsung to MaRS,” said Yung Wu, CEO, MaRS Discovery District. “We both recognize the important role Toronto – and Canada – play as a destination for innovation talent, research, and start-ups. We look forward to collaborating and connecting with the Samsung team on a variety of exciting opportunities as this project comes to life.”

Today’s announcement compliments earlier 2018 news of plans to launch additional AI centres in North America. Dr. Darin Graham will spearhead the opening of new labs in Canada as the head of Samsung’s Canadian AI Operations. Until recently, Dr. Graham helped lead the creation and formation of the Vector Institute – the renowned Canadian AI research institute, as a member of the founding team. The opening of AI centres in Canada will allow Samsung to expand its outpost for industry collaboration and talent recruitment in the major AI hubs in North America.

“Investments like this are proof that Canada is truly a world-leader in artificial intelligence. Our talent and innovation ecosystem make us an attractive place for companies to grow and create well-paying jobs for Canadians. Our government is proud to partner with companies like Samsung, as we continue advancing our machine learning knowledge and further establish our place on the world stage as an AI leader,” said the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.

To date, Samsung has had great success in leveraging Canada’s unique R&D talents for global impact. The Company’s Vancouver-based R&D centre has contributed to a number of in-market innovations and more than doubled its workforce, since opening with over 100 employees. With the addition of the AI centre in Toronto, the company plans to increase the R&D in Canada from current 100 to 200 in the near future. Additional developments and talent in Canada have been recognized through Samsung Electronics Canada subsidiaries, AdGear Technologies Inc. in Montreal and SigMast Communications Inc. in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Samsung Research has led the latest effort in expanding the global AI research capabilities of Samsung Electronics and has converged its AI expertise with the creation of the new AI Centers. Samsung Research also oversaw the creation of the new AI Centers in Seoul last November and in Silicon Valley in January. With the addition of the three new AI Centers, Samsung Research will operate five AI Centers around the world.

Also, by securing global AI experts, Samsung Research plans to expand its number of advanced AI researchers to a total of about 1,000 globally by 2020.

“Samsung has a long history of pursuing innovation and we are excited to be bringing that same passion and technology leadership to AI,” said Hyun-suk Kim, President and Head of Samsung Research at the opening ceremony of the new AI Center in Cambridge. With the new AI Centers and recruitment of leading experts in the field, our aim is to be a game changer for the AI industry.”

Hyun-suk Kim, President and Head of Samsung Research at the opening ceremony of the new AI Center in Cambridge, is giving out a congratulatory address at the AI Center Cambridge, U.K. opening on May 22, 2018.

Top Talent from AI Field to Help Lead New Centers

The Samsung AI Center-Cambridge will be led by Andrew Blake, previously Director of Microsoft’s Cambridge Laboratory, and a pioneer in the development of the theory and algorithms that can make it possible for computers to behave as seeing machines. With cooperation from distinguished experts in the field, such as Professor Maja Pantić (Imperial College), Samsung AI Center-Cambridge will play a pivotal role in advanced AI research for Samsung Research.

Samsung AI Center-Cambridge will be led by Andrew Blake, pictured.

“This new Center signifies our commitment to the advancement of AI,” said Andrew Blake. “Our research will help us to better understand human behavior while exploring areas like emotion recognition, and further expand the boundaries of user-centric communication to develop AI technologies that ultimately improve people’s lives.”

Samsung AI Center-Toronto will be led by Dr. Larry Heck, Senior Vice President of Samsung Research America (SRA), and an expert in virtual personal assistant technologies and also the Leader of the SRA AI Center. The AI Center in Toronto will bolster its research efforts in core AI technologies with strategic cooperation from major universities in Canada.

Samsung AI Center-Moscow is expected to capitalize on Russia’s expertise in mathematics, physics, and other fundamental sciences. It plans to include leading AI experts such as Professor Dmitry Vetrov (Higher School of Economics) and Professor Victor Lempitsky (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology) to lead its research on AI algorithms.

Key Principles Driving Samsung’s AI Vision

In its vision for AI, Samsung focuses on five core aspects to drive its research. These include AI that is: “user-centric,” realizing personalization through a multi-modal interface; “always learning,” through continuous self-learning from data; “always there,” as an ambient service; “always helpful,” with minimization of user intervention and response to requests; and “always safe,” ensuring user safety and privacy. As they work around these focuses, the new AI Centers will leverage cutting-edge research environments along with the regional strengths of the researchers to carry Samsung’s AI capabilities to new heights.

Through ongoing initiatives including hosting an AI Forum last year, Samsung has been cooperating closely with renowned AI scholars in preparing to set up research bases across areas of expertise. Samsung will continue to expand areas of expertise and technology across the globe, including of particular importance, the eastern area of the U.S.

In the coming years, Internet of Things (IoT) devices embedded with AI will generate a vast array of data that can provide fascinating insights about the lives of users, enabling them to take advantage of intelligent services optimized for their own personal preferences and behaviors. How AI-enabled devices provide consumers with the most optimized options will be critical to the success of AI technology for the near future. To provide a user-centric ecosystem, Samsung aims to build an AI platform under a common architecture that will not only scale quickly but also provide the deepest understanding of usage context and behaviors, making AI more relevant and useful.

For more details on Samsung Research and the global AI Centers, please visit the official Samsung Research webpage at http://research.samsung.com.

Attendees at the AI Center in Cambridge, the U.K opening on May 22, 2018 are smiling for a group photo