If 3G and 4G made the mobile Internet, then 5G is the success of the Internet of Things. As the large-scale commercialization of 5G approaches, this communication infrastructure with faster speed, wider bandwidth and higher coverage will construct the era of the Internet of Everything, and smart homes, smart manufacturing, and smart cities will all become possible.
As an important part of smart homes, home service robots will also usher in a new golden development period in the 5G era. According to industry insiders, 5G will be an important opportunity for service robots. After data processing and transmission problems are solved based on 5G characteristics, the commercialization of service robots will enter a new stage.
Previously, an industry white paper pointed out that with the continuous development of technology, from 2016 to 2020, the total global shipments of cloud-based machines and people will reach 50 million units; by 2025, the penetration rate of home cloud-based robots will reach 12% . Taking the sweeping Robot as an example, its current penetration rate in the Chinese market is only 5%, while the penetration rate in the US market is 16%, and the domestic market still has great prospects for development. In the next 5 years, home service robots will enter a period of high outbreak.
Industry giants forward-looking layout, home service Robot ecology is emerging
Founded in 1998, Ecovacs has been rooted in the industry for more than 20 years and is undoubtedly the leader in domestic service robots. Compared with mature markets and ordinary markets, players in emerging technology markets usually need to spend a long time and high cost to cultivate products. Ecovacs established a R&D team in 2000 to try to deploy the Robot business. After nine years of technical cultivation and research , released the first sweeping robot “Dibao” series in 2009, and since then kicked off the domestic sweeping robot market.
When entrants are still competing for the sweeping robot market, Ecovacs has already occupied half of the industry. In the first half of 2019, the retail share of Ecovacs brand sweeping robots in the Chinese market was as high as 48%, ranking first. In addition, Ecovacs has also accurately and comprehensively laid out the home service robot market with years of technology accumulation, creating a home service robot ecosystem, and constantly leading the new trend of the industry.
Ecovacs’ product matrix includes sweeping robots (Dibao), window cleaning robots (Windowbao), air purification robots (Qinbao), etc., forming a three-in-one home cleaning solution around home cleaning services, fully conveying Ecovacs “Smart Home Living Concept”. In the future, the home service robots produced by Ecovacs will cover every corner of daily life, from “tools” to “housekeepers”, and finally become “companions”. The construction of 5G network can fully optimize data processing and transmission problems, and home service robot products will integrate more intelligent product functions on the existing basis to provide a more imaginative product experience.
Focus on technology and user needs, and truly implement AI
Since its establishment, Ecovacs has always attached great importance to scientific and technological innovation, and increased R&D investment year by year to ensure the leading product technology. Taking the first quarter of 2019 as an example, Ecovacs’ R&D expenses increased by over 39.33% year-on-year. Ecovacs Suzhou Industrial Park has a R&D and testing center of thousands of square meters and a national-level laboratory with complete R&D and testing conditions, providing necessary experimental conditions covering R&D testing, product safety and stability testing, etc. to ensure product quality. In contrast, many domestic homogeneous products do not have the same R&D “hard power”.
In addition to 5G, Ecovacs has already “sieged cities” in AI technology. In order to further strengthen the research of “artificial intelligence + robot”, Ecovacs not only established a joint laboratory for AI talent training with Nanjing University, but also established the Nanjing Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in July 2018, which is committed to promoting the development of home service robot products in the industry. Breakthroughs have been made in interaction, intelligence, data, and interconnection.
Based on accurate grasp of user needs and innovative pursuit of advanced technology, Ecovacs was able to truly implement AI in home service robot products. In 2019, Ecovacs released the DG70 floor sweeping robot. In addition to being equipped with LDS radar positioning, SLAM navigation algorithm, and Smart Navi 2.0 path planning algorithm, Ecovacs also adopted the industry’s first camera-based obstacle avoidance solution. Products of AIVI™ artificial intelligence and visual recognition systems. This solution can use artificial intelligence technology to introduce objects and perform environmental recognition on the basis of spatial recognition, avoid irregular objects such as slippers, socks, wires, etc., and avoid entanglement, thereby greatly improving the cleaning ability of the sweeping robot.
Ecovacs believes that with the blessing of 5G and the help of AI, in the future, driven by artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, home service robots will become the center of connected home smart devices. In the space where more intelligent devices integrate interactive experience, home service robots, through their unique mobility and onboard artificial intelligence, build a network of data to improve the connection between all things and between things and people.
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