inside the company aiming to put a robot into every home - air purifier for home use

About 65 miles west of Shanghai, the Chinese city of Suzhou is known for its picturesque canals. -
At least this is true for foreigners and tourists.
For those who work in the home appliance industry, or many of the 10 million inhabitants of Suzhou, this quaint Chinese city (
Although eight
The digital population, the town feels surprisingly sleepy)
Known as the world vacuum clean capital.
After all, Suzhou is a large number of original equipment manufacturers (
Original Equipment Manufacturer)
Focus on the headquarters of floor cleaning hardware, serving global brands such as Philips, Hoover, Dirt Devil.
TEK Electrical is one of the larger OEMs and has been producing vacuum cleaners and other products for panasonicfor since 1998.
But what the company wants to do is not just produce products for foreign companies.
It wants to be its own brand.
More importantly, it is not just a vacuum cleaner manufacturer.
That's why it launched the ecovacs robot in 2006.
"Our goal is to make a robot in every family in the world," said David Qian, president of ecovacs International business unit.
Over the past 12 years, Ecovacs has grown into one of the two largest companies in the global robot cleaning industry. It is the best-
Sell its kindin brand in China and Asia, accounting for more than 47% of the region's market share;
It ranks second in European market share and first in specific countries such as Germany. In the U. S.
Ecovacs have little dominance, but it's also trying to do that ---
On last Black Friday, two of the best-selling robotic vacuum cleaners were Ecovacs products.
At present, the company has three consumer goods Series: robot vacuum cleaner Deebot;
The air purifier is named Atmobot;
There was also a window cleaner who miraculously climbed onto a glass window called Winbot.
The last two are industry innovation. -
It was the first of its kind when it went public.
David Qian, vice president of Ecovacs, has driven innovation and focused on robotics. Aged 27, Qian —
The founder of the company, the son of Dongqi Qian-
Studying sociology at Columbia University in the UK, he said he has always been interested in social and cultural development and cross-cutting. "To me, [
My father's company.
Because in the past few years, the hot technology trend has been artificial intelligence and smart home integration, areas that we have been working on since we started making automatic vacuum cleaners in 2006, this is basically one. I.
"Electric robots," he said.
In fact, the robot technology developed by global reachEcovacs is much more advanced than the automatic vacuum cleaner and window cleaner that the Western public can use.
I recently visited the company's headquarters in Suzhou. -
There are also offices in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris and duseldorf--
And carefully observed the vision of ecovacs for a world in which robots and humans live togetherexist.
Inside the headquarters is the robot museum"-
Yes, it does sound like this. -
The doorman is Benebot, a fully functional. I. -
Electric robot with built-in hardware and software
House of Ecovacs.
Benebot can answer questions, execute commands, and understand the context.
At present, some banks and hotels in China are using it.
There is also Unibot in the museum, essentially a combination of vacuum cleaners/air purifiers with cameras for additional home monitoring and safety.
In particular, the latter can achieve a variety of potentially important functions.
For example, it can detect whether an intruder has entered the house and send a notification to the homeowner's mobile phone to give an alarm.
It can also map the home and know when to clean which part of the House (
For example, there is no need to purify the air in the kitchen at three o'clock A. M).
It can also turn the appliance on or off.
Unibot was launched at IFA in Berlin last year and has been well received in China.
Balanced actQian admitted. I.
Power robot with always-
Cameras cannot be taken immediately by the public.
He believes that it is the responsibility of the company to make changes in the overall concept.
"As a brand that introduces new technologies, we have to not only improve the reputation of our brand, but also enhance the reputation of our product category," Qian said . ".
"People have negative perceptions about robots and privacy, and we have to be responsible and transparent about what we do.
What encryption do we use to protect personal data.
It is our responsibility to win consumers who care about the privacy and security of our products.
"Money is not in a hurry ---
He realized that the robot industry is still in its infancy.
"We are only part of the robot industry," he said . "
Using an analogy ---
Some consumer electronics industries like television have been around for decades.
Robots are still our first decade, and the industry is likely to continue in 100.
So there is a lot of room for growth.
"Think about smartphones now at the center of our daily lives.
I think robots will play this role in the family in the future.
We want to be a major player in driving this process.
"Ecovacs are on foot to build the future.
Its robot museum shows all types of robots, not just the company's own; it has a state-of-the-
Art testing laboratory to ensure product quality;
In addition, Ecovacs also cooperated with major universities in China to carry out student sponsorship projects to cultivate young scientific and technological talents.
"We work with professors and students to give them a platform to develop ideas," Qian said . ".
"This is actually not just for the students.
Students of engineers can also apply.
"Simply put, money wants the best minds possible to work for Ecovacs so that the company can continue to advance its vision.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Ecovacs will launch the world's first window cleaning robot without a power cord.
Although Ecovacscannot did not release financial data until after the IPO, it said that 30%-on-
The company invests 10% of its profits in R & D.
However, Qian Qichen expects that as the robot vacuum cleaner industry is becoming more and more famous, new challengers will enter the market in the near future.
"I think consumers are taking robot vacuum cleaners seriously now, and other well-known electronic brands will enter this category," he said . ".
"We must be prepared to compete and make sure we do our best.
But confidence in money.
"We are always thinking about new things our robots can do.