Evgeny Kharlamov

Please tell us what fascinates you most about research.
I am fascinated with solving open problems to make the world a better place to live.

What makes research done at Bosch so special?
Bosch has a unique AI-centered goal – by 2025, all Bosch products should either contain AI or have been developed or manufactured with its help. This, along with the fact that Bosch has more than 400 locations worldwide, many of which are factories, provide a unique opportunity for researchers fascinated with smart and AI-powered manufacturing. This opportunity can be found in creating AI-based manufacturing solutions, deploying, and evaluating them, and in making a real impact in manufacturing. Moreover, Bosch offers a unique infrastructure with everything researchers need to support their work. Note also that Bosch is a global provider of manufacturing solutions, so the impact we have in Bosch goes global with Bosch products.

What research topics are you currently working on at Bosch?
My main research work relates to AI-based methods with applications in automation and optimization of manufacturing processes. The methods I am developing combine symbolic representation and reasoning with machine learning. They make it possible to account for both production data and the manufacturing knowledge captured as semantic conceptual models, digital twins, and knowledge graphs. My current research topics range from fundamental aspects of graph neural networks to standardization of semantic digital twins and end-user-oriented tools to explore industrial data or to develop ML solutions using this data.

What are the biggest scientific challenges in your field of research?
The main scientific challenge in my area is the deep integration of symbolically represented domain knowledge that comes with logical reasoning and machine learning that comes with neural networks. Such integration will enable explainable and trustable AI-solutions that are vital for industry.

How do the results of your research become part of solutions “Invented for life”?
For Bosch, Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing are at the heart of technology “Invented for life”, since they aim to achieve production with constantly decreasing errors, resource consumption, and CO₂ emissions.