Tiger sniffing: Artificial intelligence has always been a highly watched and expected industry. When it landed on the intelligent hardware side, wearable devices, robots, etc. were born. And many other forms have also spawned a number of startups in related fields. However, the manufacturing industry is an asset-heavy industry. How do smart hardware and robotics startup teams live in the cold winter of capital and difficult financing for startup teams?

At Tiger Sniff F & M Innovation Festival. Zhang Li, general manager of iRobot China, Tan Yi, CBO of Ubisoft, and Li Zhifei, the founder and CEO, shared their experiences and experiences in the fields of artificial intelligence and intelligent hardware: “What kind of real intelligent hardware should have Function? “” When can artificial intelligence be truly intelligent? “” Are there any opportunities in the field of AI and intelligent robots now? “

The following is a summary of the contents of the “Whether AI and Intelligent Robots Are Coming Winter” section of the F & M Innovation Festival Robot Roundtable Forum:

Roundtable host:

58 Chief Creative Officer of the same city, former CMO of Ms Li Yujia

Roundtable guests:

You must choose technology CBO Tan Yi

iRobot China General Manager Zhang Li

Go out and ask the founder and CEO Li Zhifei

Li Yujia: Let’s consider the question: “Will the winter of AI and intelligent robots come?” Then, under the background of optimism, is the reason that the technical barriers cannot be broken, the product form is too simple, and the cost problem cannot be solved, or is the frothy investment blowing up too big? What problems can we solve in order to usher in a new market breakout point for AI and consumer robots?

Let ’s officially start today ’s discussion. First of all, I want to ask you a more general question. The three of you here are all doing intelligent hardware. In your eyes, what general characteristics should smart products that consumers really need? Zhang Li always has the priority to answer.

Zhang Li: For consumers, like the choice of general products, intelligent hardware can satisfy his pain points and make his life more ideal.

Because we are doing sweeping robots, many brands can use various methods on their products. They are straight-sweeping sweeping robots. If there are stains, it can be done in one go. Some sweeping robots may automatically detect if this place is particularly stolen. If it is particularly stolen, he will activate some functions, clean it on this area, and then go to the next place.

In this case, the consumer ’s ultimate goal is to clean the robot when he buys a sweeping robot. So it ’s more meaningful and valuable to provide a cleaner function than walking straight. This refers to smart products. s Choice.

I just talked about intelligent hardware. Now you can see and feel the hardware. In fact, many brands and products prefer to talk about how many sensors I have, then what CPU, and how big a motor. How big the battery is, etc. However, the superposition of these hardware and the superposition of functions does not actually guarantee that it is an excellent product or intelligent product, because it requires advanced algorithms and software support. This advanced algorithm and software It is the core competitiveness of this smart product. As iRobot, it is more important in this area.

Let me publicize a little, iRobot is a robot company born in 1990 at Hemp Institute of Technology. This company has launched more than 100 practical machines in the past few years.The robots were involved in many major human events. Everyone knows well about the “911” rescue, tutoring nuclear power plants, nuclear monitoring, including mine clearance on the battlefield, and saving the lives of many soldiers.

There is a lot of accumulation in software and hardware, but this is not enough. How to upgrade the software to a new level is very important. Therefore, if we want to ensure that the software continues to improve, we also have the talent. Made a lot of improvements.

For example, five years ago, one of the eight engineers was a software engineer, and now one of the three engineers has a software engineer, so only software upgrades and hardware can be combined into one. Very good smart products, to give consumers a good experience, this is my understanding.

Li Yujia: Thank you, Mr. Zhang, we ask Tan Ye to talk. What do you think is the core of smart hardware support to attract consumers? Tan Yan: We have just shared our three standards with customers. In fact, it is “Technology, Smart, Human. If it is from the perspective of customers, in fact, I would prefer to say the other way round. In fact, what consumers are more willing to get is Technology is hiding behind a product, a service, a care.

From the perspective of artificial intelligence, we think that it is the most critical to have such a warm and caring product, so we think that products with humanization and temperature technology are the core.

The second part, in turn we call it Smart, Technology is hidden behind, real technology, real wisdom, real intelligence, it is actually hidden in your service, hidden in your product’s logical thinking Later, so this is a logical thinking that we can truly provide our customers with valuable products.

Li Yujia: Next is Mr. Zhifei. In fact, everyone should be familiar with Zhifei ’s products. After launching generation after generation of intelligent hardware products, what do you think is the most important now? What are the characteristics?

Li Zhifei: Because we are wearable and closely integrated with our body, I think there are four points:

  1. It looks good and has face value. You don’t look good on your wrists and ears, it is definitely not acceptable.

  2. Cool, intelligence itself is not a requirement (in my opinion), but because intelligence brings a cool experience to customers, I think it is a requirement. Like “nodding” just now, answering the phone twice is also an intelligent experience. If it ’s just talking about sensors, it does n’t matter if it ’s used. This is pretend to be cool. These are two more emotional.

  3. Useful (be rational). Any product ca n’t work with gimmicks. The most basic requirement like headphones is that I can make calls and listen to music.

  4. Value for money (a bit more rational). In the end he can take photos and send friends, but he may not buy you (if you don’t have enough value for money).

    Li Yujia: Thank you three, first of all, they made their own explanations on the points that smart products universally attracted us. Next, we dive into the problem.

    Everyone knows that more and more robots are not just a machine, they have already entered our lives, such as sweeping robots.

    Mr. Zhang, you once said in an interview that the difference between yourself and other sweeping robot companies is that you are a robot company. Is the intelligence of sweeping robots the most important characteristic for consumers?

    Zhang Li: The sweeping robot is an important category in household consumption. The intelligence of the robot is indeed a very important feature. It can be completely cleaned without human intervention during the sweeping process. Automated, completes the entire process automatically, as high as possible in coverage.

    The understanding of the home physical environment and the ability to adapt to a certain level, such as clean customization, etc., are all intelligent performances, which are very important.

    The most important function of a cleaning robot is the cleaning function, so whether the cleaning robot can clean it is a very important ability. In the current Chinese market, there are still two-in-one cleaning robots (with sweeping and dragging) .