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【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」

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【導入案例】AI嘛會煮咖啡 無人烘豆機靠AI 精準設點與培養忠實客群
AI Can Make Coffee! Autonomous Coffee Roasters Relying on AI for Precise Location Setting and Cultivating Loyal Customers

Have you had your morning coffee yet Over the past decade, Taiwan has gradually formed a coffee drinking culture With the advancement of AI technology, autonomous coffee roasters can now rely on AI for precise location setting while also cultivating a loyal customer base Let's see how this is done According to the International Coffee Organization ICO, Taiwanese consume approximately 285 billion cups of coffee annually, with the coffee market in Taiwan estimated at 80 billion TWD, growing about 20 each year In recent years, the 'drinking coffee' culture in Taiwan has become synonymous with popularity, with coffee being the most frequently chosen daily beverage by 65 of the population Coffee enthusiasts, particularly the more avid ones, are willing to pay more for coffee beans that suit their tastes An increasing number of unmanned drink kiosks have also begun to appear in the Taiwanese beverage market Unmanned coffee beverage shops face difficulties in expanding quickly, primarily due 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這是一張圖片。 This is a picture.
Realizing the dream of unmanned stores, Magpie Life is building the future of the smartphone industry

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【解決方案】優式AI智能割草機器人 搶攻高爾夫藍海市場
USRROBOT's AI Lawn Mowing Robot Enters the Blue Ocean of Golf Market

An AI smart lawn mowing robot, resembling a vacuum robot, shuttles back and forth on the 30-hectare golf course lawn for weeding This robot, independently developed and designed by Taiwanese, is equipped with the world's first electronic fencing positioning technology which utilizes high-precision GPS integrated with cloud AI computation to determine the most efficient mowing paths, targeting the lucrative blue ocean market of golf courses This AI lawn mowing robot was developed by USRROBOT, a Taiwanese startup established in 2019 Chao-Cheng Chen, the president of USRROBOT, once served as the executive vice president of one of the top five ODM tech companies in Taiwan, and specializes in software and hardware integration When he served as the chairman of the Service Robot Alliance, he knew that the service robot industry was bound grow rapidly due to declining birth rates and the growingly severe labor shortage New demand - The horticulture market is large and the has rigid demand "To develop the core technology of service robots, we must find rigid demand Looking at European and American countries, there is a shortage of labor, but demand for horticulture has increased, and there has been a long-term shortage of 7-10 of horticultural workers" Under this strong "rigid demand," Chao-Cheng Chen established USRROBOT, and the company's first product is the AI lawn mowing robot In terms of overseas markets, the United States is the world's largest horticulture market, accounting for 30-40 of the global output value It is estimated that there are about 1 million horticulture workers, but they have been experiencing a labor shortage of 7-10 in recent years and have not been able to improve the situation The main reasons for labor shortage are Aging population and gardening is a labor-intensive job, so young people don't want to do it Unlike in Taiwan, European and American countries attach great importance to lawn maintenance and have expressly stipulated in the law that heavy fines will be imposed for failing to mow the lawn Therefore, the AI lawn mowing robot has considerable market development potential The introduction of AI multi-device collaborative mowing sensor technology is expected to reduce the burden of staff maintaining the golf course The AI lawn mowing robot developed by USRROBOT is currently in its second generation Domestic universities and well-known art museums are using the latest model M1, and it is also being used by some world-renowned high-tech companies and well-known universities in the United States The company is currently involved in negotiations for subsequent business cooperation USRROBOT stated that the professional RTK system currently used can reduce the original GPS positioning error from tens of meters to about 2 centimeters, allowing the robot to move accurately outdoors After setting the boundaries, it can be easily operated using the app New application - Implementation in golf courses solves the problem of labor aging and shortage Chao-Cheng Chen further explained that the National Land Surveying and Mapping Center is a RTK service provider RTK provides the error reference map of the positioning point USRROBOT can access the positioning error value of a specific position through 4G Internet access The AI algorithm of USRROBOT reduces the general 10-20 m error of GPS to 2 cm After positioning, USRROBOT then uses six-axis accelerator positioning, gyroscopes, and wheel differential sensing devices for software and hardware integration Only by matching the wheel's movement pattern and the terrain can accurate mowing path planning be achieved The AI lawn mowing robot, which is 62 cm wide, 84 cm long, 46 cm high, and weighs only 25 kg, can set the mowing boundaries in the cloud It can avoid pools and sand pits through settings, using AI algorithms to automatically calculate the optimal path It is able to mow approximately 150 ping of grass in one hour The battery can be used continuously for more than 6 hours The battery life is currently the highest in the world In addition to general gardening companies, with the assistance of the AI project team of the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, USRROBOT's AI lawn mowing robot has been applied to golf course lawn mowing A well-known golf course located in Taiping District, Taichung City currently has a staff of 5 people who are responsible for the lawn, planting maintenance, and other landscape maintenance of the entire 30-hectare course However, the average age of staff is as high as 55 years old, and the golf course has been unable to recruit new staff members for a long time In view of the aging staff and the shortage of manpower, the golf course hopes to mitigate the impact with AI technology, and is therefore using AI multi-device collaborative mowing sensor technology, in hopes of reducing the burden of staff maintaining the golf course New challenges - Expert systems are needed to overcome difficulties with different grass species "This AI lawn mowing robot has low noise, low pollution, low labor costs, and is waterproof and anti-theft In the lawn mowing process, it can identify and avoid obstacles through ultrasonic sensors while maintaining mowing quality, maintaining aesthetic and consistent grass length" Chao-Cheng Chen went on to say that the most important part about golf courses is that the grass pattern should be beautiful and free from diseases and pests Based on the site survey, golf courses are mainly divided into three major areas green, fairway and rough There is no problem using the current mowing robot to mow the rough area, and it can overcome slopes within 20 degreesThe short grass in the fairway area may only be two centimeters long, and the grass types are also different, so the cutterhead design needs to be modifiedAs for the grass in the green area, the grass must be mowed close to the ground and maintained in a consistent direction because it affects the putting speed Many factors will affect the green index, and this part requires more research and testing The AI lawn mowing robot can identify and avoid obstacles through ultrasonic sensors while maintaining mowing quality The AI smart lawn mowing robot has a built-in camera that can be used to detect the health condition of the lawn Chao-Cheng Chen said that in the future, an expert system will also be introduced for early determination of whether there are diseases, pests in the lawn or whether there is sufficient moisture, and provide lawn health data analysis to customers, so that they can take preventive and response measures sooner to reduce disaster losses Chao-Cheng Chen, who is also a good golfer himself, said that golf has developed well in Taiwan However, due to weather factors, such as rainy and humid climate and typhoons, Taiwan's golf courses have harder soil and more potholes compared with top tier golf courses overseas If AI lawn mowing robots are to be widely introduced into golf courses, there are still many difficulties that must be overcome However, Taiwan's difficult terrain creates a good testing ground Once Taiwan can overcome the many problems and successfully introduce the robot, it will be able to expand to overseas markets and seize new market opportunities in a blue ocean Chao-Cheng Chen, President of USRROBOT nbsp