China's Retail AI Startup YI Tunnel Jump-Starts Middle East Telecom Giant Etisalat to the 'Future of Retail'

BEIJING, October 29, 2018 (Newswire.com) - YI Tunnel, China's leading retail AI startup, was invited by Middle East telecom giant Etisalat to attend GITEX Tech Week 2018 during October 14-18, 2018, which is the largest and most influential IT exhibition in the Middle East. Other companies invited to showcase their technologies in the future retail area of Etisalat at the event include the time-honored companies Datalogic and PTC as well as startups Robomartand Shelfie.

During GITEX Tech Week 2018, YI Tunnel brought three solutions to the booth of Etisalat. The first is the world's first AI checkout machine, which enables automatic checkout by “looking" at the items purchased. The second is the AI cooler (AI vending machine) based on computer vision technology only with a cost of only 40% of that of traditional automatic vending machines; and the third is the unmanned store solution also based on computer vision technology with a cost far lower than that of the global leader’s product.

One of the highlights in the retail area of Etisalat’s booth was definitely the ‘unmanned store’ from YI Tunnel. Customers just need to scan their face to open it. They can grab anything on the shelf. If they don’t like the item, they can put it back anywhere on the shelf, not necessarily the original spot. The payment will be made automatically when they leave the store. 

Compared to systems from other AI companies, in addition to the use of the vision recognition technology, there is no RFID tag or weight sensor in the unattended store either. This means that YI Tunnel’s unmanned store can be rapidly reproduced for expansion.

Based on the Convolutional Neural Network algorithm, YI Tunnel’s AI cooler adopts a dynamic pure-vision solution and uses two cameras to dynamically recognize the actions of taking items out and putting them back. It provides a real “take and go” checkout experience. Customers just need to scan the QR code on the cooler’s door (or scan their face) to open it. They can pick up an item, and the payment will be made automatically after the door is closed.

Another major highlight was the "AI checkout machine." Customers just need to put their items on the checkout counter to check out. There is no need to look for barcodes or make a distinction between grocery items that are prepackaged and those that are not. The screen will directly display the prices of their items. They can pay for their purchases using mobile payment methods.

The three AI solutions of YI Tunnel are designed to digitize the elements involved in retail such as customers, merchandise and stores to eventually create a closed-loop for retail from data acquisition as well as data management and analysis to supply chain optimization.

The best thing about these solutions is that they can collect data and analyze data. Based on data analysis, retailers can offer a personalized shopping experience for consumers while empowering the day-to-day operation of their stores through business intelligence involving smart supply chain management, smart shelf management, and so on. This is what AI is for. If data is the new oil today, then these machines are arguably the new oilfield machines for retailers.

The collaboration between Etisalat and YI Tunnel during GITEX Tech Week 2018 was just the beginning. The two companies will collaborate again soon. Apart from Asia and the United States, YI Tunnel will also empower more and more retailers in the Middle East and Africa by leveraging Etisalat's influence. “It’s a great honor for us to be invited by Etisalat,” said YI Tunnel CEO Yili Wu. “We hope that our AI retail solutions will be deployed in Dubai very soon to benefit local customers.”

Source: YT Tunnel