Lighting dark horse resourcefulness allows novices to play with AI lighting

In 2024, the market is turbulent, real estate is experiencing thunderstorms, and terminal consumption is weak. We are facing an external environment that no longer provides rapid growth, and new technologies such as AI and artificial intelligence are also like a powerful force, reshaping and reconstructing the industrial structure.

When the economic transformation changes gears, how can we keep up with the wave of AI technological change? How to build new driving forces for corporate growth through innovation? As a dealer, in a world where rent, labor and other costs are high and operating pressure is increasing, how can we find the right brand, low investment, and low risk to win a certain future?

Recently, Guzhen Lighting Media’s interview with Zhu Dongliang, CEO of Caimeta (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd., may bring you inspiration. Let’s review the answers of the pioneers in the field of AI lighting to see that in the period when AI intelligence is fully promoted, whether you choose to venture into the field of intelligence boldly or treat it with a conservative attitude, caimeta will pave the way for you.

△Zhu Dongliang, founder & CEO of Zhimoji (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. (right)

01. When did you realize that AI lighting was the future?

Zhu Dongliang: As early as 2014, we were thinking about how to make smart lighting. This may be related to my personal experience. I majored in communications technology, and also served as a senior executive in marketing management at Huawei. This dual background of technology and market makes me more interested in thinking about how to use technology and product innovation to solve the pain points in people's lives and create a more convenient, comfortable and beautiful life experience. At that time, I thought that smart lighting must be a kind of active intelligence.

In recent years, many companies have begun to develop smart lighting, but methods such as APP and voice control are not very friendly to many users. For example, what should I do if I don’t speak Mandarin? What should we do if the elderly and children cannot use mobile phones? At the same time, smart lighting has high real-time requirements. Therefore, AI active intelligence is the best solution. People of any age, status, or status can use it without any barriers.

However, there are two conditions for using AI technology for lighting control: first, the technology is achievable, and second, the cost is acceptable. Ten years ago, these two conditions were not yet mature.

Today, the computing power of chips has increased by more than 10 times, and the cost may have dropped by 10 times, making the application of AI technology in the lighting field possible.

02. What are the advantages of Zhimoji AI lighting? How is it different from ordinary smart lighting?

Zhu Dongliang: caimeta's technological innovation with "AI+LED+IoT" as its core uses powerful AI algorithms and understanding of light to match corresponding healthy light colors at any time according to usage scenarios, achieving true AI active intelligence.

Here, it is divided into two aspects.

First, in the field of commercial lighting, Zhimoji’s AI lighting can adapt to the environment like a chameleon and output professional light colors. This light color is based on sunlight as the reference system, and is based on the full-spectrum light distribution and color scheme, giving the illuminated object the best color reproduction and saturation. This kind of function is especially suitable for places such as clothing stores, museums, art galleries, and home furnishing exhibition halls that have high requirements for true color restoration of the objects being illuminated.

△ Demonstration of Zhimoji AIcolor color recognition subsystem during the 2024 Guangya Exhibition

The second is the field of home decoration. It can automatically sense and recognize people's behavior and posture, and automatically adjust the light according to the heartbeat. For example, in the living room, the scene may change dozens of times a day. It is simply impossible to achieve this effect by relying on traditional methods. But Zhimoji AI lighting can automatically identify it. When you are reading a book, it automatically matches the lighting that is most suitable for reading. When you look at electronic products such as mobile phones and tablets, it automatically adapts to another kind of lighting. When you watch TV, it is different again.

03. Is such hard-core black technology more expensive than ordinary products?

Zhu Dongliang: In fact, there is not much difference in cost between Zhimoji AI lighting products and ordinary smart lighting products. There are two reasons. First, under the influence of Moore's Law in the IT industry, the cost of chips has dropped significantly. Second, this is our long-term strategy. Our costs are mainly concentrated on R&D, especially since there is currently a shortage of professional talents in the AI ​​field, and labor costs and R&D investment are relatively high. We do not include these costs in product costs.

04. What are the ability requirements of Zhimoji’s AI lighting for dealers?

Zhu Dongliang: Zhimoji AI lighting is very simple from installation, debugging to use. As long as you have experience in lighting projects, you can easily get started, and no high professional level is required.

At present, the implementation process of many smart lighting is relatively complicated and the cost is relatively high. Some wired and PLC solutions also require embedded wires. However, Zhimoji AI lighting does not require pre-embedded wires or complicated debugging, and its implementation efficiency is 5-6 times that of ordinary smart lighting. In other words, if other solutions take a day, we may only need a few hours to complete it.

At the same time, we will also provide standardized, "fool-like" video teaching materials to teach dealers how to do promotion and implementation.

05. Traditional lighting inventory is under great pressure. How does Zhimoji solve the pain points?

Zhu Dongliang: Since Zhimoji AI lighting can automatically identify color matching, inventory pressure can be said to be reduced by 90% compared with traditional lighting.

For example, a downlight has different color temperatures, housings, and angles. If there are three color temperatures of 3000K, 4000K, and 5000K, three angles, and two appearance colors, according to the arrangement and combination, then there are 18 SKUs; with Zhimoji AI lighting, there is no problem of color temperature and angle, and there are only two SKUs. In this way, the inventory pressure is only 1/9 of the original.

It can be said that in today's severe market environment, Zhimoji AI Lighting has greatly reduced dealers' inventory risks, and operating costs and risks have also dropped a lot.

Bringing new vitality to the lighting field through advanced technology

It is understood that caimeta uses "AI+LED+IoT" as its core technological innovation, uses powerful AI algorithms and understanding of light to match corresponding healthy light colors at any time according to usage scenarios, achieving true AI active intelligence. It has technological leadership in five major areas.

1. "Light changes with color": Zhimoji AI lighting adapts to the environment and changes light color like a chameleon, ensuring that the output light is always the best color for the environment.

This has unparalleled advantages in places such as clothing stores, museums, art galleries, and home furnishing showrooms that have relatively high requirements for the true color restoration of the objects being illuminated and often require light and color adjustment. At the same time, it greatly saves a lot of labor costs and expenses.

2. Scene recognition: light follows your heart. caimeta AI smart lighting can automatically perceive and recognize people's behavior and posture, and automatically adjust the lighting.

For example, when you are watching a movie in the living room, caimeta AI smart lighting will automatically provide dimmer and comfortable lighting, making the movie-watching process more immersive;

When you finish watching movies and need an environment with sufficient brightness again, caimeta AI smart lighting will actively increase the lighting brightness without manual intervention in the whole process, allowing the lighting to understand what you want. This innovation of automatically switching lighting scenes according to application scenarios is an industry leader.

3. Real-time monitoring of AIBBS big data: By accurately recording changes in customer flow in the exhibition hall and regional heat maps, it helps managers understand customer behavior habits and preferences, such as which areas customers like to visit, how long they stay, etc., thus boosting store operation performance.

4. Small investment, low risk, even a novice can play with AI lighting: At present, the implementation process of many smart lighting is relatively complicated. Many dealers are often afraid of smart lighting due to lack of relevant professional knowledge and capabilities, which also affects the promotion and application of smart lighting. The caimeta AI smart lighting is very simple from installation, debugging to use, and novices can easily get started.

At the same time, because it can automatically identify color matching, the inventory pressure of caimeta AI smart lighting has also been reduced by 90% compared with traditional lighting.

5. Strong interconnectivity: In the smart home ecosystem, lighting will be interconnected with a variety of products. Caimeta AI smart lighting can be flexibly connected with third-party systems such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Tuya.

Continuous iterative upgrades to bridge the gap between technology and market

Since caimeta AI smart lighting was first launched in the industry in 2022, its products have been continuously iterated over the past two years and have attracted the attention and favor of many dealers. Especially after this year's Guangya Exhibition, the speed of market advancement has accelerated significantly.

According to Zhu Dongliang, founder & CEO of Zhimoji (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd., Zhimoji’s parent company originally focused on export business and did not know much about the operating model and consumption habits of the domestic market. This resulted in incomplete product development, product matrix, brand operation and channel cooperation model in the early stage. Especially in the specific implementation phase, there was a certain deviation from the original expectations.

After more than two years of polishing, caimeta is now more in line with the domestic market in terms of products and channel construction. “caimeta AI smart lighting is actually being promoted both domestically and internationally simultaneously.

Abroad, it is mainly in the form of technology export. Since many foreign customers have a relatively deep understanding of technology, Zhimoji's products actually sell better. In China, we operate in a branded manner, which is a systematic project. Although the progress is a little slower, we have continued to invest and steadily moved forward step by step, and the road has become smoother and smoother. "

In the wave of technological change, some people rise up while others are eliminated. Zhu Dongliang pointed out that during the transformation period of LED lighting, many manufacturers disappeared because they failed to seize the opportunities. He emphasized that in the exploration of new technologies and new business models, although there are challenges, choosing the right direction can open up broad prospects.

Zhu Dongliang's plan for the future of Wisdom is to build it into a brand with C-end influence This is almost impossible in the traditional lighting era, but in the AI lighting era, products and consumers have the opportunity to interact more frequently, providing new opportunities for brand building. At the same time, caimeta will also rely on new media and other methods to further interact with consumers and display the excellent experience of caimeta lighting in a more three-dimensional way, paving the way for establishing a consumer mental foundation.

Conclusion:

Light changes with color, recognizes scenes, and moves according to heart. Technical innovation with "Al+LED+IoT" as the core is constantly refreshing our understanding of AI lighting. The inventory pressure is reduced by 90%, the installation and debugging efficiency is increased by 5-6 times, the investment is small, the risk is low, and it is easy to use. In the current era of extremely fierce homogeneous competition, caimeta, the leader in the field of AI lighting, allows every dealer who is unwilling to be left behind by the wheel of the times to win a certain future.