Walking into Midea Smart Lab, we experienced smart home appliances that are different from Internet companies
▲ Complete experience video
Now, more and more people use smart home products to improve the quality of life. For most people, the smart home products they use are basically purchased from Internet companies, such as mobile phone manufacturers.
Data shows that the sales of smart home appliances have been soaring in recent years, with an annual growth rate of basically above 20%. Some consulting agencies said that by the end of 2020, China's smart home appliances market will exceed 500 billion yuan.
It is precisely because of seeing the broad prospects of the market that traditional home appliance manufacturers have also started their transformation. From no smart home appliances, to smart home appliances with mobile phone manufacturers, and now to produce smart home appliances by itself, Midea is one of the outstanding brands.
▲ Home appliance report data released by Suning.com for the first half of 2019
Recently, we were invited to the Smart Lab of Midea’s Global Innovation Center and experienced a variety of smart home appliances at once, ranging from small products worth tens of dollars to big ones worth tens of thousands of dollars, and some are hard to see in the market. Of high-end smart appliances.
A new wake-up experience, starting with a smart mattress
When Midea's engineers said that mattresses can also be smart, both the photographer and I were surprised.
Lying on the bed, you only need to say "Xiaomei Xiaomei, get up", the smart curtains at home will automatically open, the smart air conditioner and air purifier will automatically turn off, and the smart mattress will slowly support you and lift the quilt. Get out of bed.
We asked the engineer if the smart mattress had a vibration mode, and the engineer gave a meaningful smile.
Smart air conditioner with dialogue and singing
Under normal circumstances, the control entrance of smart home appliances is an independent smart speaker, but when we first experienced this smart air conditioner of Midea, we were all surprised by a small snack. It actually has a built-in smart speaker.
▲ The built-in speakers are the same as smart speakers, which can execute commands and play music
Midea engineers told us that these smart home appliances with speakers can be "woke up nearby", and only the one closest to the sound source will respond. The biggest advantage of the built-in speakers for smart home appliances is that any smart home appliance can control other smart home appliances as long as the settings are made, without the need to purchase multiple smart speakers.
The engineer also said that some smart air conditioners with built-in speakers have a dialect mode, which currently adapts Cantonese and Sichuan dialect.
The children’s air conditioner that parents are most likely to be excited, the innovation is in the "wisdom eyes"
What impressed me the most from this experience was a children's smart air conditioner. Compared with ordinary smart air conditioners, this air conditioner has one more "smart eye".
▲ Children’s air conditioners are smaller than ordinary air conditioners, and the shape is more in line with children’s aesthetics
This "Smart Eye" is an infrared temperature detector that can rotate freely. When the air conditioner is turned on for about 30 minutes, the detector will automatically obtain the child's body temperature and the approximate temperature of the child's bed, and automatically adjust the temperature, wind force and wind direction of the air conditioner.
For example, when a child sleeps with an air conditioner on, sometimes it is easy to catch a cold after kicking the quilt, and it is easy to sweat when the cover is too much. With a child's smart air conditioner, these problems can be solved very well.
To be honest, I will probably buy children’s air conditioners with similar functions for my children in the future.
Rice cooker with three cameras
There was also a high-end rice cooking robot that impressed me a lot, which is what we call a rice cooker.
This rice cooker is different from ordinary smart rice cookers. It comes with a rice trough. After putting the rice in the rice trough, the three high-definition cameras inside can intelligently identify the rice type, quality and amount of remaining rice, and automatically cook in the most suitable way .
▲ Three high-definition cameras are placed in the cooking robot
This is indeed a good product that can greatly enhance the cooking experience, but the price is not affordable for ordinary people, and it costs more than 20,000 to discount on third-party shopping platforms.
Range hood that can watch videos and listen to music
When cooking, many people like to listen to songs or watch videos. Midea has a smart range hood that can do it. A high-definition screen is placed in the middle of the outside. There are apps such as iQiyi and QQ Music for use, experience and tablet The computer is similar.
The two knobs of the gas stove also hide mystery, and both use a magnetic design, which makes cleaning after a meal much easier.
However, with regard to the innovative design of range hoods, I personally have reservations, and it still depends on consumer demand.
Internet companies or traditional home appliance manufacturers, which one has an advantage
Compared with mobile phone manufacturers, home appliance manufacturers have benefited from decades of accumulated technology and market experience, and their innovations are more in line with consumers’ actual usage scenarios and habits, and there are fewer innovative gimmicks for innovation, while exploratory and subversive Sex is not as thorough as Internet companies. How to choose depends on the brand, the product, and your own needs.
▲ The innovation of home appliance manufacturers is more inclined to use scenarios and experience, which is slightly different from Internet companies
Midea engineers introduced to us that Midea’s vision is to "know your smart life" and will develop more and better smart home appliances to meet consumer needs in the future.
Cover image source: Naomi Hébert ( Unsplash )
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