Laziness may be the first source of motivation for me to embrace the smart home.
Whether it's a voice-activated voice assistant that responds to a voice or a sweeping robot that sweeps automatically, they can help me free myself from the complicated repetitive labor force, worry-free and smart. But the more frequently used air purifiers made me hesitate. Because I found that the source of air pollution in the home is always flowing, and allergens such as dust and cat hair will flow irregularly indoors.
In addition, the traditional air purifier is a wired monolithic design, covering a limited purification area, this pain point is similar to wiFi coverage, a single air net can only be covered in one room, and the purification ability will be greatly reduced after the partition wall. If you want to meet the purification of the whole house, you can either add a few more equipment, or you can only move back and forth with the empty net.
▲ When I carried the MAX air purifier of Mijia in 2018, I wondered why it did not have "legs"
In the days before the poor air quality, watching TV in the living room at night, you had to put the empty net in the living room; when you want to go back to the room to rest, you will carry the empty net back to the room... There was a sense of a return to ancient times – humans had to be warmed around a campfire to survive.
Perhaps in response to this pain point, Coworth launched the first air purification robot "Qinbao" that can actively find the source of pollution many years ago, and then Qinbao has continued to deepen the category of air purification robots, and has successively launched several products.
But the recently released Coworth AIRBOT Qinbao Z1 air-clear robot calls itself a "new species."
So the question is, in addition to seeing and moving, where can it be new?
B&O homologous exterior design, in line with the use of intuitive home robots
In terms of appearance, the shape of the Qinbao Z1 continues the rounded style of AVA, with a slight increase in volume but smaller than the mainstream empty net.
The body design of the Qinbao Z1 is joint Jacob · Jacob Jensen Design takes the Nordic minimalist route. From its height and form, Qinbao Z1 is more in line with the public's perception of robots.
The silver gray tone is complemented by simple lines, symmetrically arranged on a regular cylinder, and the filter inlets on both sides use a large area of gray fabric, which is not difficult to see the intention of creating a high-end style. Homologous to B&O's design, it can be integrated into most home improvement scenes.
The glossy design has a display below the top panel and a capacitive power button. The raised module is a dToF lidar sensor with a style grid distributed around a circle of the panel.
Concealed handles are available on both sides of the fuselage, and a rebound structure is used to maintain the unity of the appearance.
This handle should be used occasionally when it needs to be carried, because of its high integration of "integration", Qinbao Z1 product net weight reached 15KG, relatively heavy, but fortunately it has its own legs, can move on its own.
The side-pumping filter barrel introduces a mechanical structure, while pulling out the filter handle from the side, the fixed structure of the filter element and the body will also be released, and as the handle continues to drag, the filter element can be taken out directly from the side along the bottom slide.
▲The pulling process is very smooth, and the operation mode is also in line with the user's intuition.
A similar structure exists on the inner filter element, where the handle is laid flat with the cylinder wall, and the fixed structure is released synchronously when the handle is lifted upwards.
After removing the filter barrel, you can see the robot's power switch and distribution button at the bottom, and there is a QR code paired with the mobile phone client.
The charging base provides the storage position of the split power supply, and the outlet holes are reserved on both sides of the back, and the wire storage is more convenient.
I can hear the "new species" that I can talk about, and I want to be your smart steward
The Qinbao Z1, defined as a "new species", is actually mainly more intelligent functions, and on the basis of seeing that it can walk steadily, it has inserted a YIKO voice assistant that can hear the correct answer into the fuselage.
YIKO supports "natural language" speech input, which can understand the user's spoken language and execute the response command. For example, call it to the bedroom to purify, it will automatically turn on the purification function and go to the bedroom position; call it to help me see the air quality of the children's room, it will answer the air quality of your room; ask it what the weather is like, it will also answer how the local weather is.
What's even more fun is that, combined with the 6 pickup microphones on the body, it has a sound source positioning function, if you simply shout it, it will recognize the sound source and face you (the side where the camera is located), and if I call it: "Come and purify", it will move to your side with the sound source position.
Two 7W speakers are located on either side of the bottom of the fuselage, and the voice assistant's voice comes from here. With speakers and voice assistants, shouting YIKO to play online music is no problem.
You can even connect with the mobile phone in the form of Bluetooth, directly play the song list in the mobile phone, and be a mobile speaker that is about to go. As a non-professional sound, the sound performance is acceptable, and it can basically meet the needs of simple creating an atmosphere in the living room.
Based on the front-facing 960P camera, the movable Qinbao Z1 becomes a mobile home video butler.
Through the mobile app, we can connect its camera anytime, anywhere, and then we can use the mobile phone to control it to cruise in the house, reach any designated location in the room, and see the whole house in real time.
Just see that it is not the end, Qinbao Z1 also supports two-way voice function, which can meet the needs of voice calls.
With this feature, when we go out of the house, qinbao Z1 can be seen as an avatar/doppelganger that we stay in the home, and although we are not at home, we can see the real-time situation at home.
For me, it is very convenient to use Qinbao to check the lights and gas at home and whether the windows are closed; if it is for users with children or the elderly at home, they can see their situation in real time and take the initiative to initiate voice calls, shouting to them or something, which is also very practical.
This 960P camera delivers decent image quality and clarity, allowing you to see indoor conditions in well-lit situations, and slightly darker areas will have some noise, but they can also be rendered in color. And because the lights in the home are connected to the gateway can be remotely controlled, in order to see more clearly, I will first remotely light the lights of the corresponding room, and then summon Qinbao to go.
In terms of voice calls, Qinbao Z1's pickup and broadcast effects are good. The current way of calling is similar to the mainstream home camera, only providing one-way video calls, that is, you can use the mobile phone to see each other through the Qinbao camera, and the other party can only hear its voice and can not see its people.
Since it is a walking home camera, the importance of privacy and security is also worth paying attention to. The Kworth Qinbao Z1 has an electric curtain on the camera, and the camera will lower the curtain when it is working, and it will be synchronized with the indicator light.
In addition to physical means, Qinbao's software side also does a privacy protection function, and the connection to the camera needs to pass password verification. And Qinbao Z1 and its app have obtained the privacy protection certification of T V Rheinland, and there is basically no need to worry about the risk of privacy leakage.
With eyes and legs, the air purification robot can run away from the whole house?
In order to make the Qinbao Z1 move freely, Coworth gave it "eyes" and "feet".
Qinbao Z1's legs and feet are still relatively sharp, and it directly uses the mature sweeping robot program. The bottom is equipped with a set of drive wheels and cardan wheels, as well as infrared sensors that are resistant to drops and suspensions.
The movement speed is similar to that of the general sweeping robot, the thicker tire skin makes the Qinbao Z1 move quieter, and the obstacle crossing ability is also on par with the sweeping robot, which is not at all like it has just learned to walk.
Qinbao Z1's "Eyes" introduces the same technology of Dibao X1, built-in a Horizon Rising Sun 3 AI chip with 5TOPS AI hash rate, and with the blessing of the dToF sensor, the "TrueMapping Global Planning Technology" upgraded to 2.0 is realized, shortening the time for building the whole house.
The first-time created whole house map looks more accurate, and can also recognize itself through the door, automatically giving you the partition of the room and living room.
In the time of future use, Qinbao Z1 can complete navigation and positioning indoors. I use the mobile app to set a point on the map, and qinbao Z1 can set off to that point by itself.
In addition, the built-in AI chip of Qinbao Z1 can also mobilize the camera and use the new AIVI 3D technology to identify ground obstacles, so as to execute strategies to actively avoid obstacles. Shoes on the ground, trash cans, dining tables and chairs, etc. are common moving obstacles in the home, and Qinbao Z1 can avoid them in advance.
Different from the sweeping robot, qinbao Z1 as an air purification robot has a collision buffer module in front and back, but the sensors and algorithms on the body will keep it at a safe distance from all obstacles, and most of the time it will move at a distance of about 20cm from the wall.
Therefore, in the actual experience, qinbao Z1 has hardly hit the tables, chairs and walls, and the situation of spinning in place has not appeared, which can quietly purify all rooms in the whole house. In the default gear, Qinbao Z1 can cover 200㎡ of flat space with a single battery life, which is more than enough for most families.
It is worth mentioning that Qinbao Z1 supports multi-WiFi automatic switching. If your home is large enough to have several WiFi to cover, Qinbao Z1 will switch the WiFi connection by itself depending on the signal strength, but only for WiFi in the 2.4GHz band.
In terms of monitoring, it may be that it is too inefficient to let the robot body monitor, so Coworth has built some peripherals for Qinbao. An air detector is also provided in the package, with sensors that monitor the pm2.5, VOCs, temperature and humidity of the air. Network via WiFi and pair with Qinbao.
This operation is very similar to the "eye insertion" skill in the "League of Legends" game, which can expand the monitoring area. When the air quality in the area is abnormal, this external air detector will prompt and summon Qinbao to the area to purify. Through the app, we can also see the air quality of the whole house in real time.
One case that does not know whether it is good or bad is that the air detector itself does not contain a battery and needs to obtain external power through the USB-C interface on the back. Some people will find it cumbersome to remember to charge, but others will find wired more troublesome.
One machine for four uses, aldehyde sterilization with intelligent humidification and fragrance
Qinbao's purification ability has been well-known in previous products, and the purification ability of this generation has been strengthened with the increase of volume.
The 360° ring filter adopts H13 grade HEPA filter, the formaldehyde removal rate is 98.87%, CCM formaldehyde F4 magnitude, CCM particulate matter P4 magnitude, the value is higher than the national standard 2 times.
In short, qinbao Z1's purification ability can meet the needs of most families. And in order to meet the basic needs of purifying PM2.5 air pollution and decorating formaldehyde odor, the filtering of allergens such as pollen pet hair, which is the biggest demand for empty nets in households, will also be taken into account. According to the monitoring of air quality, in addition to automatically going to the corresponding place for purification, it will also intelligently adjust the size of the air volume and plan regular purification.
The inner filter also has a 2L water tank embedded in it, and picking up the handle is like carrying a small bucket, you can directly take it to the faucet and fill it with water. It is more convenient to pour water, open the side tab, the water tank will be directly turned down, and the water can be poured clean.
The built-in fog-free humidification module, the humidification efficiency is about 400ml/h, and the intensity of humidification is automatically adjusted according to the air humidity.
The so-called fog-free humidification is actually to simulate the natural evaporation of water by increasing the contact area between water and air. The advantage is that the water quality is not picked, and it can be used directly into ordinary tap water. At the same time, it also has the advantages of no fog, no water stains, no bleach residue, no wet board, and is also suitable for people with allergies and asthma patients.
In addition to the basic skills of purification, Qinbao Z1 also takes into account the problem of sterilization.
Inside the second layer of the filter barrel, Qinbao set up a cylinder with a uniform surface of 3 UV-C ultraviolet lamps, which can illuminate the entire filter barrel wall for sterilization.
Inside the UV lamppost, there is also a place to place the fragrance module, allowing the clean air released upwards, adding a few elegant bluebell fragrances.
After integrating the four functions of aldehyde removal, sterilization, fragrance and humidification, supplemented by intelligent adjustment, Coworth calls the system a "quadruple air revitalization system", coupled with its whole house movement characteristics, it can meet the air revitalization needs of the whole house.
To become a "smart housekeeper", the puzzle of ecology still has to be made up
On the whole, qinbao Z1's good air purification ability is an expected basic operation, and on top of the conventional aldehyde sterilization, the accompanying humidification and fragrance are the icing on the cake.
However, what differentiates itself from similar products is not only the characteristics of Qinbao Z1 being able to move freely, but also the function points given by the addition of cameras and intelligent voice assistants to further enhance the robot attributes of Qinbao Z1.
It is not difficult to see that Coworth is still using the thinking of building robots to develop smart home products. The Qinbao Z1 is vaguely ambitious to act as a smart housekeeper in the family.
However, if the Z1 is positioned as a "smart housekeeper", its most obvious shortcoming may be the lack of ecological chain, and the smart home devices that can be controlled by YIKO are limited to Coworth's own product line, and the number is relatively small.
In my home, the coexistence of YIKO and Xiao Ai classmates is basically a state of big eyes and small eyes, YIKO can only control Qinbao itself, can not control to other Mijia smart home devices that have been installed before; and Xiaoai classmates can not control YIKO, and Mijia's sensors cannot be linked to Qinbao Z1.
Therefore, completing the ecological experience is a compulsory course for Qinbao Z1 to better perform its duties as a housekeeper. Similarly, this is a common problem faced by the entire IoT smart home industry, and it is urgent for the entire industry to work together to solve it.
It has to be mentioned that its price, the official price of the Cobos Qinbao Z1 is 8999 yuan. As an air purifier, the price is not cheap, and it is difficult to cover the mass consumer group.
However, for large household owners who have mobile air net demand, they can change their thinking and realize that the air net robot not only has the characteristics of integrated intelligence, but also saves the space in the house where multiple wired fixed air nets are placed. According to the housing price estimate of first-tier cities, Qinbao saves a lot of land prices while saving space.
Moreover, in terms of the subdivision of air purification robots alone, the Coworth Qinbao Z1 is indeed the most functional and intelligent product at present, suitable for large-scale owners to "step in place".