YI Tunnel is Officially Put Into Commercial Use the AI Vending Machine Can Dramatically Reduce OPEX

BEIJING, May 18, 2018 (Newswire.com) - With most traditional retailers reaching a consensus on the trend of digital transformation, using new technologies to improve the consumer experience and increase efficiency has become a choice for more and more retailers, and the model of adding unmanned or unattended equipment to traditional retail locations will also be widely adopted.

At the recent 2018 Demo China event organized by CYZONE, YI Tunnel founder and CEO Yili Wu delivered a speech entitled “Toward the Commercialization of AI under Retail Scenarios”. At the conference, he also announced the official commercial use of the world’s first pure-vision AI-based smart vending machines. The first machines were deployed at Beijing’s CSF Market and the Hainan Tower in Haikou at the same time. Meanwhile, the exhibition of the machine at CYZONE’s event also caused quite a stir.

Offline locations will be the biggest retail space for AI in the future

According to related economic reports, the Chinese economy grew 6 percent in the first quarter—5 percent in manufacturing and 10.9% in retail. The only segment enjoying an explosive growth like crazy was offline retail—offline convenience stores and vending machines. Currently, China has a total of 210 thousand vending machines, and this number will reach at least 10 million by 2025.

After being deployed through the smallest retail units, YI Tunnel can collect massive data on offline transactions and use this data to empower retailers and brand partners. Meanwhile, it enables the tentacles of retail to get closer to consumers and makes shopping more convenient for them.

The smart vending machine does everything on its own from beginning to end

According to Wu, YI Tunnel’s AI smart vending machine, the first one of its kind in the world, is based on the Convolutional Neural Network algorithm. It adopts a dynamic pure-vision solution to dynamically recognize the action of taking an item and putting it back with an accuracy rate of over 99 percent. The machine really allows you to "take and go."

Unlike the vending machines currently in the marketplace, this machine doesn’t need the RFID tags or weight sensors to recognize items. You can take multiple items in one hand or in both hands. It also allows you to take an item without having to put it back to its original place. Or you can even put one item on another and the machine can still recognize it. The machine doesn’t have a requirement on where the items are placed in the freezer. This helps to lower the operating cost and accommodate more items in the freezer.

Besides, YI Tunnel’s AI smart vending machine is supported by a powerful backend operation management platform as well as an operation & maintenance app, to help customer monitor the freezer in real time for smart operation: you can restock the freezer smartly—the camera on the freezer can automatically recognize the quantity of merchandise and remind you to restock the freezer in a timely manner; you can view the operation of multiple machines at the same time; you can also view the number of items sold by each machine and carry out merchandise management, procurement management, order management and transfer management etc.

The eye-catching and commercially viable black tech

At the exhibition, the smart vending machine attracted many people to give it a try. According to the staff, when a consumer uses the machine for the first time, he or she will need to register by scanning a QR code via WeChat and linking his or her account to a password-free payment system; after that, he or she can scan the QR code to open the door and take any item from the freezer; and when he or she closes the door, the payment will be made automatically. In the demonstration process, the staff went on to say that the smart vending machine doesn’t need the RFID tags, as it is based on the Convolutional Neural Network algorithm and uses a dynamic pure-vision solution to dynamically recognize the action of taking an item and putting it back.

According to an earlier report, the smart vending machines deployed at Beijing’s CSF Market and the Hainan Tower in Haikou represents their official commercial deployment for the first time. They also attracted a lot of curious consumers to take a look and buy something from the machines. 

Exploring, innovating and remaining focused is the key

The wind of “new retail” began to blow quickly among traditional retailers in 2017. Quite a few regional and national retail giants are rushing to join Internet giants one after another, indicating that traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are somewhat confused or puzzled facing the new tech wave led by their e-commerce counterparts. Toward this, the attitude of CSF Market Chairman Yanchuan Li has been very clear: retailers shouldn’t panic when facing those new concepts and new trends, and joining the giants is not the only way out. Retailers need to remain calm first, to think about what a path they should take, and make improvements on what they do revolving around customers and merchandise in accordance with their own positioning. 

Technology is the No. 1 productivity for the human society, and innovation is the No. 1 driver for growth. Any technology, once it exists, can make new civilizations possible through ongoing innovation. In the future, YI Tunnel will tunnel its way forward to link business and technology, and to link today and tomorrow through ongoing AI innovation. In connection with the application of big data, it will drive the iteration, upgrade and innovation of traditional retailers, lead the trend of retail through smart technologies, and provide more smart experiences for consumers that are ahead of their time. 

Source: YI Tunnel