:::

【2021 Application Example】 Unmanned Intelligent Vending Machines - Black Wo Coffee Creates Boutique Coffee in a Minute

Technology also carries the aroma of coffee!

Situated on Gaogong Road in the Southern District of Taichung, the original Black Wo Coffee store covers a space of 28 ping, filled with the scent of coffee mixed with cultural creativity and technology. Since its establishment in October 2016, Black Wo Coffee has expanded to 7 directly managed stores and 28 franchise stores across Taiwan. Among the 15,000 coffee sellers nationwide, Black Wo Coffee has risen uniquely through the use of AI technology to create an unmanned intelligent vending machine that brews exquisite and aromatic coffee in just one minute.

Black Wo Coffee's physical store creates a culturally creative and fashionable atmosphere (Image: Black Wo Coffee official website)

▲ Black Wo Coffee's physical store creates a culturally creative and fashionable atmosphere (Image: Black Wo Coffee official website)

According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), Taiwanese people consume 2.85 billion cups of coffee annually, with the market size exceeding 70 billion NT dollars; Ambitiously, as per Starbucks' survey, by 2018 the overall Taiwanese coffee market reached 72 billion NT dollars and rose to 90 billion by 2020. Over the last five years, the Taiwanese coffee market has expanded annually by about 20%, showing remarkable growth potential.

Coffee demand presents incredible business opportunities, growing at a rate of 20% annually

With coffee now being a symbol of fashionable consumption in Taiwan, aside from first-tier coffee shops like Starbucks and Louisa, there are convenience stores like 7-11 and FamilyMart, and numerous boutique coffee houses scattered through the streets and alleys. How to capture consumer attention and stand out in the 'red ocean' of the coffee market requires flexibility and creativity, understanding consumer needs and tastes, which are also essential for cultivating brand loyalty.

Beyond physical storefronts, Black Wo Coffee is also actively developing digital channels. Its ecommerce platform includes the official website, PChome, momo, and group-buying hosts, providing multiple channels and ensuring steady growth in performance. Even so, the founder of Black Wo Coffee, Lin Pei-ni, continually seeks innovation. Due to the passive and scattered situation with franchise stores in the first three years, it was difficult to actively grasp market trends and the company noticed a certain lag in communicating with consumers and keeping up with brand dynamics, making it challenging to cultivate loyal brand advocates.

▲ Artisan boutique coffee is deeply beloved by consumers. (Image: Black Wo Coffee official website)

Through the AI Eagle Eye System, market intelligence costs are significantly reduced

To address the dual challenges of not being able to quickly capture market trends and high market research costs, Black Wo Coffee introduced the AI Eagle Eye System in 2020 to scout market intelligence. By comprehensively crawling articles from social websites, news platforms, and forums, automatically tagging, and suitably filtering, this system scanned 4,858 articles using 24,290 keywords, enabling precise insights into consumer preferences at minimal costs.

At the same time, after launching new products, not only can franchise stores be notified promptly, but the acceptance level of consumers can also be assessed through social platforms. It serves as a reference for whether to promote aggressively. Through the collection of data and analysis by AI algorithms, consumer-preferred flavors are selected, reducing the risks associated with new launches and increasing the success rate of new products. Therefore, in 2021, Black Wo Coffee boldly explored new markets by introducing the world's first AIoT smart coffee innovative concept in collaboration with Pxmart for the first 'Intelligent Supermarket', integrating Black Wo Coffee to create an unmanned intelligent hand-drip coffee machine for consumers to enjoy a unique flavor experience.

Insight into consumer tastes leads to the creation of AIoT Unmanned Intelligent Vending Machines

Taiwan's first Pxmart 'Intelligent Supermarket' in Neihu, Taipei introduces the world's first AIoT smart coffee concept store, able to interact with the AI smart coffee vending machine, AI hand-washing coffee machine, and AI vacuum cold brew machine through a mobile app, meeting three different coffee technology experiences in one place. The self-service area features the only unmanned intelligent coffee vending machine in Taiwan that uses chilled milk to make milk foam, selecting Black Wo's 5A grade milk, and completing the payment, grinding, and brewing all within one minute.

The first Pxmart 'Intelligent Supermarket' was established on Ruiguang Road in Neihu District, Taipei. (Image: Pxmart FB fan page)

▲ The first Pxmart 'Intelligent Supermarket' was established on Ruiguang Road in Neihu District, Taipei. (Image: Pxmart FB fan page)

The Pxmart Intelligent Supermarket features an AI smart coffee vending machine, which is operated using an app to enjoy aromatic coffee. (Image: Pxmart FB fan page)

▲ The Pxmart Intelligent Supermarket features an AI smart coffee vending machine, which is operated using an app to enjoy aromatic coffee. (Image: Pxmart FB fan page)

Now, with the addition of AI technology elements, drinking coffee is not just about having coffee; it also brings more brand-new tech experiences and conveniences to consumers.

「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」

Recommend Cases

這是一張圖片。 This is a picture.
AI-Based PCBA Surface Defect Detection Improvements

With the introduction of theAOIAIWith the introduction of the system, we can improve product yield, reduce costs, and from a business perspective, increase customer trust and sales revenue Moreover, AIit has advantages that are difficult to imitate, unlike other equipment that can be bought with money, making it hard for our competitors to catch up with us Our company's current development We are committed toIOTsmart manufacturing our systems already include smart materials systems, environmental humidity control systems, anti-miscarriage systems, smart procurement computation systems, smart inventory systems, solder paste management systems, and production management systems We have asked other manufacturers about the possibility ofAIinspectingPCBAsurface defects, each hoping that we would purchase their equipment, but none were effective upon verification After discussing with IT service providers, we defined it asAOIAIa feasible operational model Tzuhong Technology has invested inAOIAIan inspection plan to checkSMTtext on components, solder joints, polarity, missing partsand usingAIto replace manual learningAOIand define the 'potentially defective' parts, enhancing productivity and reducing misjudgment rates Industry pain points Taiwan faces a severe labor shortage, especially those willing to perform visual inspections are few and typically older, increasing the frequency of missed inspections Thus, the most critical bottleneck in the pursuit of high-quality electronics has become post-production inspections Previous consumer products with undetected anomalies were acceptable within a certain ratio However, in the automotive industry today, undetected defects could lead to fatalities hence, the automotive industry has extremely high quality demands To survive in the automotive supply chain, we must address the issue of undetectable anomalies Moreover, as wages in Taiwan continue to rise, we can only endeavor toAIreplace traditional manpower with technology, otherwise, even if the anomaly leakage problem is resolved, the relatively high labor costs will still prevent competitiveness in this industry Application technology and explanation Initially,Figure 1,PCBUpon emerging,Reflowsystem, it will undergoAOIwill undergo inspection, dividing into 'suspected defective' and good products At this point, the 'suspected defective' portion accounts for20manual review for these20parts, further classifying the 'suspected defective' portion into good and defective products With We aim to leverageAItechnology, to shift from manual re-inspection of these20technology, we aim to replace manual review of 'suspected defective' products withAIand after review, the results still yield 'good' and 'suspected defective' products, but now 'suspected defective' comprises only3thus reducing the workload of Tzuhong's employees from20down to only3In theory, it isAOIIn theory, after inspection, it is further reviewed byAIbut it appears to go throughAOIonly, so we call this technologyA0IAIDetectionFigure 2。 The original AOI inspection process The operator will place the testPCBboard intoAOIthe inspection equipment, outputtingAOI information on defective products, then manually re-inspect one by one to determine if they are defective AOIAI inspection process The operator will place the testPCBboard intoAOIthe inspection equipment, outputtingAOIinformation on defective products after, then proceed byAIfirst performingAOIre-assessment of defective products, outputtingAIinformation on defective products afterward, then manually re-inspect one by one to determine if they are defective Process differences By introducing theAOIAIsystem, not only can we enhance the efficiency and yield of visual inspection personnel, we also have this timeAIexperience in system introduction, we will also incorporateAIthe use of big data into Tzuhong's existing smart manufacturing systems, further enhancing the performance of our smart manufacturing systems and reducing the pressure on employees Difference between pre and post-introduction Promotion strategy 1 Similar field diffusion allSMTmanufacturers face bottlenecks in inspections leading to shipment delays introducing this system can solve the severe labor shortage issue and enhance shipment speed and quality, allowing self-promotion to customers or through equipment dealers to cater to relevant needs 2 Cross-industry expansion plans negotiate withAOImanufacturers to directly integrateAIthe system intoAOItheir systems, enhancing their market competitiveness Profit strategy 1 In collaboration withAOImanufacturers, collect licensing fees 2 Direct sales toSMTthe manufacturing industryAIsystems 3 ProvideSMTmanufacturing industryAOIAIsystem subscription model「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-12-09」

【解決方案】佐翼科技無人機導入高爾夫球場域 可節省一半人力
Droxo Tech Applies Drones in Golf Courses to Reduce Manpower by Half

For most golf courses, the operations and management is a headache "Golf courses are selling turf and need to be properly taken care of," a golf course manager bluntly pointed out Facing the market pain points of labor shortage, aging population and high cost, the use of AI drones for pesticide spraying and pest control will reduce labor costs by more than half and greatly improve the overall operational efficiency At noon in early summer, an AI drone is slowly taking off at the Taipei Golf Club in Taoyuan Its main task is to test AI drone fertilizing and pesticide spraying on the golf course In fact, drones of Droxo Tech, the company performing this task, are widely used for fertilization, pesticide spraying, and pest and disease control for rice, bananas, and tea trees For golf courses with turfs that often cover tens to hundreds of hectares, AI drones are needed to assist in turf maintenance Data collection, development of pesticide spraying AI models, and multispectral image analysis and testing will be carried out in the current stage In the future, large-scale technology implementation and verification will be carried out to set an example for applying drones to golf courses Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides can reduce the manpower required by half The traditional way of maintaining the turf in golf courses is to carry spray buckets or drive spraying vehicles to spray areas one by one "Domestic golf courses began to plant ultra-dwarf Bermuda grass in 2001 This grass species prefers a cool climate and is not suitable for Taiwan's hot and humid weather" Droxo Techrsquos CEO further pointed out that to prevent turf from pests and diseases, pesticide spraying is necessary For an 18-hole golf course, it is equivalent to spraying pesticides once a week, and the T-ground and fairways are sprayed every two months For golf courses, spraying pesticides is time-consuming and labor-intensive It is important to note that large-scale spraying will increase the risk of personnel poisoning and increase the amount of pesticide used Benefits of applying agricultural drones to golf courses According to Droxo Techrsquos research, golf course pests include Spodoptera litura, which comes out at night to look for food, so pesticide spraying must be carried out in the evening According to the traditional method, pesticide spraying requires two vehicles and three personnel for a total of 45 hours If AI drones are used for fertilizing and pesticide spraying, it only takes one operator to spray 08 hectares of land in 20 minutes, saving about two-thirds of the manpower and reducing operating costs by about 30 Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides on golf courses can reduce the manpower required by half In addition to the significant benefits of using agricultural drones for golf course turf maintenance, Droxo Tech also specially introduced AI multispectral image recognition for NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index analysis "The so-called multispectral is to direct light with different wavelengths on the turf, and the reflected images are collected for analysis" Droxo Tech CEO Liu continued to explain that each plant absorbs light with different wavelengths, so multispectral imaging can determine the growth status of grass species At the same time, combined with AI image recognition, the distribution of pests and diseases can be accurately detected, and the amount of pesticide used is determined on this basis Cross-domain collaboration to build a multi-source turf image databasenbsp Using AI multispectral image recognition technology, Droxo Tech will collect visible light, multispectral, thermal images, and hyperspectral images to establish a multi-source turf image database to fully understand the growth cycle of Bermuda grass Droxo Tech has accumulated rich experience in agricultural AI drone pesticide spraying , but there are still many problems that need to be overcome to implement AI solutions in golf courses For example, it is necessary to establish a new pesticide spraying model and test flight methods, especially the application of multispectral image recognition PoC is not difficult, but actual implementation requires more test evidence, repeated inferences, and collaboration with plant experts This part must rely on the cross-domain integration of legal entities such as the Institute for Information Technology III, gathering more fields for verification, and creating a paradigm before it can be more widely adopted by golf courses There are not many international cases on the application of AI drones in golf courses During the verification process, it is not yet known whether it can be quickly copied to the next golf course However, Droxo Tech CEO Liu believes that through cross-domain collaboration, clearly defining the problems and listing them one by one, supply and demand parties can reach a consensus, propose solutions to each problem, and seek cooperation with internal and external resources Only then will we be able to gradually achieve the goal of making golf courses smarter and smoothly assist the industry with transformation Zuoyi Technology's CEO, Liu Junlin 「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」

【導入案例】哈瑪星科技建構AI模型管理平台 加速AI落地應用
Hamastar Technology Builds an AI Model Management Platform to Accelerate the Application of AI

Riding the AI hype train, financial service providers are using their solid foundation in the industry to not only transform themselves, but also assist their customers with transformation Hamastar Technology, which has been established for over two decades, has been developing AI technology and assisting industry customers with the implementation of AI in recent years Hamastar Technology believes that to implement a complete AI project, in addition to AI theoretical knowledge, data analysis, and model training capabilities, it is also necessary to develop APIs for data, establish databases, develop front-end RWD web pages, and even consider layout design and user experience based on customer needs These tasks create technical barriers for AI startups Even from the perspective of companies that have reached a certain scale, it is hard to accumulate technical experience and accelerate business growth due repeatedly investing manpower developing similar functions in each project Institutional customers still require high level of customization for AI Using the requirements of government Agency A implemented by Hamastar Technology as an example, users must control false information from specific channels The platform needs to provide data ingestion functions for training models and predictions, and can complete natural language processing NLP text classification model training and use When the model discovers false information, it needs to immediately notify responsible personnel through messaging software The need of Agency B is to use an AI model to automatically classify petitions and immediately provide information on past cases as reference for the petitioner or officer Although the project models are similar data ingestion, model prediction, warning notification, the required functions still need to be separately developed for individual projects, and existing programs and models cannot be reused to speed up the implementation of subsequent projects After in-depth discussion, Hamastar Technology found that pain points of enterprises implementing AI projects include high implementation costs and lengthy project schedules It is difficult for a single enterprise to simultaneously have data scientists, analysts, engineers, and designers Current projects are all focused on solving the needs of specific fields, and it is difficult to reuse the AI models in other fields of application At the same time, the tools are concentrated in AI projects and cannot provide customers with total solutions In other words, due to the "limited manpower," "restricted fields," and "insufficient tools" of AI service providers, the implementation of AI technology projects requires high costs or lengthy timelines These are common problems that companies urgently need to solve Therefore, if there is an AI model application service management platform, it will be able to solve the above difficulties and not only reduce costs, but also accelerate project implementation and provide customers with one-stop solutions AI model application service management platform assists in quickly completing projects Therefore, with the support of the AI project of the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Hamastar Technology carried out the "AI Model Application Service Management Platform AISP RampD Project" and engaged in the RampD of AISP products The purpose is for AI service providers to complete the AI projects with twice the result using only half the effort The AISP provides one-stop AI solutions AI service providers can quickly assemble required functions, such as data API, model management, and model prediction result monitoring subscription through existing module functions of the AISP It also provides commonly used graphical tools to help companies quickly design interactive charts or dashboards required by users, effectively reducing the labor costs required to execute projects, shortening the solution POC or implementation time, and accelerating the implementation and diffusion of industry AI In terms of product business model, in the short term, the company will extensively invite IT service providers with expertise in the field of AI to work together, and use platform services to solve the AI implementation problems faced by requesting units in various field, gradually building trust in the platform brand In the mid-term, the company hopes to gradually expand the market based on its past success, and form strategic alliances with multiple IT service providers to solve more and wider problems in specialized fields and provide more solutions for units to choose from The platform combines field experts to jointly expand overseas markets In the long term, after establishing AI strategic alliances in various specialized fields, the platform will have a large number of AI solution experts for specialized fields After accumulating a large amount of successful project experience, Hamastar Technology hopes that the AISP will be able to work with experts companies to expand into the international market Harmastar Technology Co, Ltd was formed in 2000 by recruiting numerous senior professional managers and technical experts in related fields It is committed to software technology RampD and services, and aims to develop into an international software company, actively creating opportunities for international cooperation in the industry Under the excellent leadership of its first president, the company has rapidly grown into a major software company in Taiwan