A wave of retail terminal revolution triggered by a juice robot
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In recent years, both offline traditional retail and online e-commerce have faced considerable development difficulties. Reducing costs, maintaining profit growth, and seeking innovative development paths have always been the goals pursued by the retail industry. So, can we break through the problems and difficulties faced by the industry with the help of artificial intelligence and other technological forces?
No matter how the concept of the retail industry changes, it is inseparable from its essence: merchants obtain more demand information at a lower cost, analyze demand information more accurately, and respond to demand information faster, thereby reducing time and cost, and improving efficiency; customer consumption Demands are met more accurately, the most cost-effective thing is bought, and the possibility of making mistakes is reduced. And artificial intelligence (AI) can only realize the transformation of the entire format by starting from the essence of the retail industry and solving the pain points of the industry.
For startups entering the artificial intelligence industry, subtraction is far more important than addition. Shenzhen Qifei Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Qifei Technology CEO Tang Bo, said in an interview with China Artificial Intelligence Robot Industry Alliance: Focus on one direction and one field to make key breakthroughs to achieve better results.
juice robot Making the juicing process intuitive and reliable
is a change of this idea, allowing Qifei Technology to find its own path in the emerging smart retail industry, and the secret weapon to open this path is to integrate multiple artificial technologies. Smart retail terminal-----juice robot. How does
Qifei Technology establish its position in the smart retail field? What artificial intelligence technologies does the newly launched juice robot integrate? In response to these problems, China Artificial Intelligence Robot The industry alliance conducted an exclusive interview with Tang Bo, CEO of Qifei Technology, and hoped to inspire entrepreneurs who are preparing to enter the artificial intelligence industry.
Qifei Technology CEO Tang Bo
The following is the interview record
Alliance: Today is in At the forum (2017 China Commercial Robot Summit Forum), Mr. Tang showed us the latest juice extraction robot of Qifei Technology. I want to know how the company chose to enter this industry at the beginning of its business?
Tang Bo: In 2014, the company began a strategic cooperation with Intel and determined the direction of smart retail. Intel is very optimistic about the large market in China’s retail sector and the opportunities brought by consumption upgrades in this market. For this reason, Intel has targeted We have developed some application chips and software. Under this background, we have determined the market for smart retail.
When we first entered the smart retail field, we cut into several different markets and made many products. The retail cabinets that can be seen in subway stations, juicers and juicers are one of the categories. Finally, we chose the direction of juicers to make a breakthrough. The reason is that the field of juicers is the most accepted in the market.
First of all The entire consumption upgrade has led to the continuous growth of consumer demand for healthy drinks. Secondly, the gross profit margin is higher. One end of the juicer is connected to the fruit vendor and the other end is connected to the consumer. This greatly reduces the intermediate links, so the scope and space of the juicer Very big. We are also determined to use artificial intelligence technology to do a good job in this market segment.
Alliance: From juicers to juice robots, it can be seen that Qifei Technology has applied many new technologies in it, including AI, how are these technologies applied to the juicer?
Tang Bo: Of course, the process is still quite difficult to apply these technologies to the juicer. First, a lot of financial and material resources need to be invested in the technology. Research and development. Taking image recognition as an example, image recognition technology in a broad sense can recognize many objects, but when you really go deep into a field, you will find that your energy is limited. Later, we decided to accurately identify a class of objects and continue to improve accuracy. degree. There is also the peeling of oranges. For robots to adapt to oranges of different sizes and shapes, it is difficult to peel the oranges to an appropriate level.
For traditional juicers, it is difficult to grasp the degree of juice extraction. Too deep squeezing affects the taste, and too shallow squeezing will cause waste. Therefore, there are many problems to be solved by putting artificial intelligence technology in. We are now able to achieve that more than 99% of the oranges can be peeled and then juiced. Through repeated tests and improvements, we finally cut more than 30,000 oranges. Only realized afterwards.
Juice Robot integrates a number of artificial intelligence technologies.
Alliance: From the juicer to the juice robot, how long did Qifei Technology take?
Tang Bo: Our juicer was developed in 2012 and launched in 2015. The research and development of artificial intelligence technology started in 2014, and it took nearly 3 years to make a juice extraction robot this year.
Alliance: For many people, it is unimaginable to use so many artificial intelligence technologies on a juicer. What do you think of the impact of AI on the retail industry?
Tang Bo: retail equipment in the smart retail field is basically all industrial automation equipment. Retail equipment with artificial intelligence technology will certainly gradually replace the original industrial automation equipment, so for those like Qifei Technology For enterprises, they need to occupy the commanding heights of the industry in the early stage of research and development, and truly apply artificial intelligence technology to it.
Because it is a brand-new revolutionary product, the original industrial automation products are completed at the expense of a lot of consumer experience. The equipment is placed there and manual operations are required to complete. But this is a one-way behavior. It has neither a way to communicate with consumers, nor a way to implement autonomous decision-making based on its own perception and judgment when encountering new situations. The introduction of artificial intelligence technology is a good solution. These problems.
Alliance: What is the biggest difficulty Qifei Technology encountered in the process of entrepreneurship? How did you overcome it?
Tang Bo: still underestimated the difficulty of commercializing artificial intelligence at the beginning of its business, so there are many fields involved in research and development. Later, it was discovered that this was not possible. We needed to focus on one direction and one subdivision to make key breakthroughs. According to our previous assumptions, we hope to make a robot that can replace convenience store staff, not only selling pre-packaged products, but also pre-processing some semi-finished products, such as coffee, milk tea, simple cold meals, and so on. There are many technologies needed, and the company has invested a lot of resources and energy in research and development. But later we discovered that it did not have the ability to be used in this market for the time being, so it was later cut off. The lesson of this matter is that for start-up companies, doing subtraction is far more important than doing addition. As far as we understand it, the technology of all aspects of unmanned convenience stores is far from reaching maturity, and the market needs a process of cultivation.
Alliance: What is the operating model of Qifei Technology? Is it also involved in downstream vertical operations?
Tang Bo: Qifei Technology only participates in the development, design, manufacturing and sales of smart retail equipment, and does not participate in downstream operations. For operators, they need to purchase oranges, expand their distribution, and perform routine operation and maintenance. Operators need to have special food hygiene operating qualifications. Therefore, we are not open to franchising, and a dedicated operating company is doing the specific operation. If the traditional retail industry or the fruit wholesale industry wants to enter the direction of smart retail, you can cooperate with us.
Alliance: Qifei Technology has established its own research institute. In which field is the company's research focus? How is it laid out?
Tang Bo: There are more than 70 full-time researchers in the research institute of . Qifei Technology's research in artificial intelligence is mainly reflected in three aspects. One is machine vision, the other is multidimensional perception, and the third is deep learning. . Three different directions of artificial intelligence technology focus on the same field-smart retail. These research projects are supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission and the Development and Reform Commission. The artificial intelligence engineering laboratory is currently applying for a national engineering laboratory.
Alliance: What do you think of QifeikeWhat is the core competitiveness of technology in these three technologies?
Tang Bo: These three technologies of are very important to the company, and deep learning is the top priority. Deep learning is mainly used in visual recognition, grasping, and peeling. For example, after our juice robot has passed the experiment of 30,000 oranges, it can basically handle more than 99% of the oranges, and can accurately visually recognize and judge them. What should we do if we encounter the other 1%? It can realize automatic comparative analysis through deep learning technology, and make decisions on its own to continuously improve the remaining 1%. It can also be used in crawling and peeling. The deep learning algorithm for these actions is our core competitiveness.
Alliance: 2015 is a very critical year for Qifei Technology. Could you please talk specifically about what adjustments the company has made during this year? What impact did it bring?
Tang Bo: 2015 was a year of transformation for the company. The first ten years of the company was a typical industrial automation enterprise. After the introduction of Intel’s strategic investment in 2015, we established the Qifei Technology Research Institute and finally established There are three major directions in the field of artificial intelligence. After that, artificial intelligence technology has been continuously applied to smart retail, and then gradually transformed into an artificial intelligence enterprise.
Among the products sold by the company, artificial intelligence accounts for an increasing proportion. It is estimated that the sales of juice robots launched this time can reach more than 30%, and products such as smart retail equipment have also added face recognition. Artificial intelligence technology, he can make judgments on consumers' buying behavior; we also have a smart medical cabinet, in which there are some emergency medicines and equipment that can be emergency backup as needed. Among these products, the juice robot has the best response in the market.
Alliance: For downstream operators, what are the advantages of juice robots compared with conventional juicers? What benefits can it bring?
Tang Bo: Compared with the juice extractor, the manufacturing cost of the juice robot has been reduced by about 30%. The advancement of technology has a great impact on the optimization of equipment costs, which is equivalent to a return on the company's huge investment in research and development.
Secondly, compared with the original juicer, the juice robot is more efficient. It can complete a glass of orange juice in 30 seconds, and the utilization rate is higher. On the basis of the original juicer, it is increased by 30%, which is equivalent to the operator It saves costs; secondly, it can juice a variety of fruits, and its operation and maintenance is more convenient. The original juicer needs to be maintained once a day, and the current juice robot can be maintained once a week, cleaning and operation and maintenance Both can be realized by the robot itself.
Alliance: What is the strategic plan for the next three years of Qifei Technology? What kind of company is the goal?
Tang Bo: In the next three years, Qifei Technology will continue to iteratively upgrade artificial intelligence technology around the smart retail field. In the first generation, we were making juice robots. In the second generation, we will make a comprehensive water bar, including juice, mineral water, coffee, milk tea and other different drinks. The third generation will be a smart retail robot that replaces convenience stores. It can not only make drinks but also simple fast food. The first step has been completed, and the second step is under development. It is expected that the three-step strategic goal can be achieved within 5 years.
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