Can artificial intelligence become a standard to help the home appliance industry return to the "tidal head"?

On the eve of May 1st, the days when home appliance manufacturers concentrated on pushing new products, the reporter observed that with the drive of new-generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and big data, artificial intelligence is gradually becoming the standard for home appliances. Statistics show that by 2020, global artificial intelligence systems will bring more than 47 billion US dollars in revenue to home appliance companies, and Chinese home appliance companies will return to the "trend" under the blessing of consumption upgrades and artificial intelligence technologies.

New home appliances have launched "artificial intelligence" selling points

Recently, the reporter visited the major home appliance stores in Yangcheng to see that artificial intelligence has become the focus of competition in the home appliance industry. For example, Konka Multimedia's A2 Art TV is equipped with the latest artificial intelligence, without the need for a remote control, directly calling "Xiaikang Xiaokang", you can wake up TV to listen to songs, play games, watch TV, etc., and can also communicate with smart homes, and can voice Control curtains, air conditioners, TVs, etc.

Skyworth also launched the new AI TV Q5A, equipped with the latest AI chip independently developed by Skyworth, with artificial intelligence quality adjustment function, combined with AI voice, AI system, etc., even before the business trip by voice query TV arrival weather, clothes matching And other information.

It is understood that currently mainstream brands including Skyworth, TCL, Haier, Hisense, Midea, Konka, Changhong have launched their own AI products and AI systems, AI technology has also been widely used in various categories of home appliances: smart TV can make people While watching the show, Taobao shopping on the screen, the smart refrigerator can understand the instructions of the person, the smart oven will automatically "identify" the ingredients to achieve one-button cooking, the air conditioner automatically recognizes the user to adjust the temperature more suitable for the elderly or children, the sweeping robot Being able to plan clean routes yourself... these have become the consumer's everyday home appliance usage scenarios.

Liu Buchen, an observer in the home appliance industry, told reporters that artificial intelligence is a big wind for upgrading and transformation, and many manufacturers naturally grasp this opportunity. Industry statistics show that by 2020, the global artificial intelligence system will bring more than 47 billion US dollars in revenue to home appliance companies, and the penetration rate of smart TV market will reach 90%.

AI is different from intelligent possession of "thinking ability"

However, in the interview, the reporter found that there are many talents who confuse artificial intelligence with intelligence. Consumers are even more confused in the promotion of many AI concepts.

What is artificial intelligence? To put it bluntly, let the machine have the same ability of thinking and recognition as human beings. For example, after the AI ​​is integrated into the TV, it will automatically learn the user's usage habits, and the new drama will be pushed or even automatically downloaded after the update. In a smart home system, artificial intelligence is like an invisible housekeeper, taking care of everything in your home.

In the words of Chen Xiaoping, the founder of cloud-wide home Internet appliances, when a product has AI, it is “very smart”; when a bunch of home appliances and equipment are smart, they have group wisdom. According to reports, Yunmi established the artificial intelligence laboratory AIlab in 2016, focusing on the application and research of application technologies including voice control, face/image recognition, gesture control, algorithm big data, and the birth of considerable technical achievements. . So far, Yunmi core technology products have obtained 628 patents for authorized technology and more than 1,000 patent applications.

Kitchen appliance AI application is still in the initial stage

Although AI has been widely used in home appliances, not all products are suitable for this technology. “I think kitchen appliances such as ovens and steamers are more suitable for AI technology because it needs to address the individual needs of different family members.” Wang Qiang, the boss's electrical technology officer, said that on the contrary, dishwashers, hoods, etc. have problem-solving attributes. The product does not have to be non-AI. He said that the company's use of AI will focus on kitchen appliances in the relevant food cooking sector, and products with AI technology have been introduced.

Pan Ban, the head of Vantage's brand department, told reporters that Vantage will take the lead in the AI ​​technology on the A2 hood. The product can adjust the air volume according to the size of the soot, and the automatic "cruise" function can achieve the best balance between smoking effect and smoke exhaust, and also has intelligent voice dialogue function.

Wang Qiang believes that due to the existence of kitchen noise, soot, and the safety and convenience of hydropower, the application scenarios are more complicated than those of color TVs, refrigerators, etc., which requires high matching of AI technology. "Therefore, the use of AI by kitchen appliances is still at an initial stage, and there is a certain lag in the application of larger appliances."

Pan Ban also believes that the current use of AI for home appliances is mostly a single product. Only the AI ​​applications of each item are superimposed to form a systematic operation, which is called real AI, and this requires the construction of the platform.

What are the applications of artificial intelligence technology in home appliances?

Real-time image search

The TV is playing a TV series, the user asks "Who is this person?" The TV will immediately display the relevant introduction of the actors on the screen. This image recognition function not only recognizes all kinds of small coffee big names, but also supports multi-person synchronous recognition, which will be related to it. News, photography, the same shopping and gossip are presented together, and even the products, stars, logos and QR codes presented on the screen can be quickly identified.

Voiceprint recognition

Nowadays, some TVs have built-in voiceprint recognition technology. The TV will recognize different characters (such as male, female, and child) according to different timbres, thus providing personalized visual and content push services. If the user wants to watch a movie but doesn't know what to watch, he says "I want to watch a movie" on the TV. Then the TV will display completely different content according to the identified user. The interface for women is feminine pink, the recommended films are mainly romance, and men will see dark blue vision and some action, sci-fi-based film results. If it is a child, you will get some cartoon recommendation results. At present, Changhong, Konka, and TCL part of the TV support this function.

Emotional voice interaction

In the voice, there is also a new TTS emotional voice interaction technology, which can eliminate the unnatural and cold feeling of the machine broadcast, and make the artificial intelligence TV more "human", realizing realistic, personalized, emotional, and scenes. This creates a "feeling pleasure" experience for the user. Mastering TTS emotional voice interaction, TV will feel your feelings like friends, and appreciate your emotions.

Visual Identity

In addition to voice interaction, adding a camera to a home appliance can also perform facial recognition and motion recognition. The user does not need to make a sound, and only needs gesture control to make comfort adjustment. The addition of a camera and a microphone allows the brains of the smart family to have eyes and ears.

The artificial intelligence air conditioner that appeared in the previous exhibition has four images of image, position, gesture and voice recognition. The somatosensory camera can identify the user's identity (gender, age), automatically adjust the air conditioning operating parameters according to the user's behavior of using the air conditioner, and provide a personalized comfortable air solution.

When there are multiple family members in the space, after the air conditioner is recognized, the combined personnel automatically selects the corresponding operation mode according to the current highest level personnel demand in the priority level of the registration list. When there are old people and children, the air conditioner automatically switches to a targeted "care mode" to give priority to protecting and meeting the health needs of the elderly and children.

Editor in charge: Li Qun