Wang Hui of Huami: The future is already here, and what is the next step for wearables?
Today, we are sharing the text of a speech made by Wang Hui at the 2017 Discussion on VC Trends in the Smart Hardware Industry event co-organized by Shunwei Capital and ITjuzi.
Wang is the general manager of Huami Beijing. The one product from Huami that we may have come across is the Mi Band. In his speech, Wang spoke about the characteristics and functions of wearables, as well as their applications, in a clear and concise manner using the Mi Band as an example. He also spoke about the applications and studies of the vast amount of data generated by the users of the Mi Band.
1. What is a wearable device?
2. What is the relationship between the wearable and the wearer, and how is it expressed?
3. How does the smartwatch help the user to smoothly integrate into the world of IOT ?
4. What are the applications of the Mi Band in everyday life?
5. How can studies of the vast amounts of data generated by smart wristbands help improve our quality of life?
As Wang Hui put it: “Our vision is to help mankind connect into the world of IoT smoothly.” In the future, there will be even more smart hardware that will be integrated smoothly into our lives, and even more people will experience the positive effects of wearables on everyday life. We look forward to the coming of this future!
Full text
Hi everyone. I am the general manager of Huami Beijing.
Most of you here today may already know about the Mi Band. However, fewer of you may know that the Mi Band is designed and produced by Huami. In addition, Huami is also responsible for providing the internet and operational services associated with the Mi Band. We at Huami prefer to be close to the masses when it comes to our products. Before the Mi Band came along, fitness band-type products cost between a few hundred and over a thousand yuan each. Many of you may know that the very first Mi Band cost only 79 yuan, and demand for the product blew up. Today, we have the Mi Band 2 on the market, and we have already sold over 30 million units to date.
Today, I want to speak broadly about the following: About wearables, and the next step for wearables. This has become a hot topic recently with recent news that the company that made the popular Jawbone device had announced its closure.
And so, at the beginning of my presentation today, I would first like to talk to you a little about what exactly wearable hardware is. Over the course of this process, I will share with you some interesting cases that Huami has worked on in the past, not just the pedometer and sleep tracking. Finally, I wish to draw on these cases to illustrate to you how wearables can change our lives and produce even more value on a broader scale.
The characteristics and functions of wearable devices
The first question is: what is a wearable device? Have you ever thought about what the definition of a wearable device is? As the name suggests, a wearable is worn by the user and interacts with the user in a certain way. The device does not require the user to perform too many manual operation (thus the smooth integration), and should stay turned on and work all the time by performing certain calculations and handling a certain type of information. This is a new type of object that does not require too much manual operation, and allows for interaction with the user that is smooth and for a sustained period of time (even round the clock). This new object is capable of connecting the user with the IoT around him or her. all the time
To think of this from another angle: in the early 1970s everyone had to do their computing on massive computers. And then, the desktop computer appeared, followed by the laptop, and then the smartphone. If we are to consider the issue in terms of the distance between computing and man, and from the perspective of the interaction model, we see that “computing” is becoming closer and closer to man. The interactive distance between the desktop computer and man is half a meter, a distance that the laptop computer has shortened. By the time we come to the smartphone, this distance has been reduced to palms-length. And with the wearable devices we are talking about today this distance is zero.
This is a new object type in terms of the history of human-machine interaction. The use of wearable smart hardware allows us to realize zero distance between man and machine in such interactions, thus bring computing forward by another step. Take the smart band for instance: it sits on my hand, and interacts with me at all times. It collects data, and vibrates to remind or inform me of various events. This sort of interaction can give rise to many new functions, and I believe that in the future as more technologies (such as sensor technologies) become more developed, there will be even more new ways of interacting. Therefore, we believe that from the interaction perspective, wearable smart hardware represents another step forward for computing, a revolutionary moment for computing. We also believe that the wearables field will continue to develop. Of course, if we are to analyze the issue from other angles, we also see that this is a part of the IoT development, and its role is to connect the individual human with the kaleidoscopic world of the Internet of Things.
Wearables will connect the individual with the entire world of information.
The characteristics of wearable devices: Man-machine interaction at zero distance; can be used in various scenarios; advancing the computing revolution.
The roles of wearable devices: Connecting man with the entire world of information, and seamlessly connecting the element that is man with the physical world.
Case 1: The North Face 100 Ultra Trail Challenge Beijing
Now, we will talk about a few cases that we have worked on, some of which may still be in the early stages of development but may truly change the way we live in the future. Huami uses SDKs and cloud service technologies in the Mi Band, and integrates the element that is man into the IoT and the information network by means of this wearable. If anyone of you here today has even better projects, feel free to get in touch with me, too. Let us work together on this interesting and challenging grand project of connecting man with the physical world (IoT) and the information world (internet) in a seamless fashion.
There are two key characteristics to this sort of connection:
First, this is an extremely low-cost way of stating the individual’s identity. The wristband is your ID. For instance, if any one of you here is wearing a smart wristband or wearable device, and if there were a sensor at the gate of the Garage Cafe, then we will be able to have a list of attendees at this event, and a list of people listening to me right now, generated automatically. We can also know if these attendees leave right after a talk, and how long they sit in, etc. Compared to technologies like facial recognition technology, the cost of this technology is lower. It is also more precise and reliable. Thus, the first characteristic is its low cost. It is also more precise compared to other methods as wearables transmit your personal information and status to the IoT.
Second, wearable smart hardware feeds the various states of Man to the information world. Real-time status updates are the expressions of your human state within the IoT world. For example: the smart wristband can track your ECG and heart rates, and the length of time you have been sitting down. It can also detect that if you have fallen asleep, or if you are climbing the stairs or on a run, etc. These basic statuses that are related to Man can be fed to the entire IoT world in a convenient, real-time manner, thus generating interactions with IoT applications in the surroundings and creating new applications. This is the fundamental point.
Here is an example. For instance at the North Face 100 Ultra Trail Challenge Beijing (“TNF 100 Beijing”) last year, we provided thousands of runners with the Mi Band as well as around 100 IoT boxes for the 100-km-long route. These boxes ran on portable power supplies and were very cheap to deploy. The deployment of these boxes had also made the entire race route “smart”. Through the use of these IoT boxes we were able to collect the information of every passing runner — including identity and status information — in real time and then send this information to the cloud for processing. Then, we handed this data to our race partner for processing, thus to present richer content to race participants and others following the race. Just to note here that we are very happy to open up these interfaces to our partners as a form of support for their development of interesting applications in various fields.
The first scenario that our partner created with the wristband data collected through IoT focused on the seamless collection of runner records. We deployed IoT boxes 100 meters, 200 meters and 500 meters away from the finish line. The runner is first ‘captured’ by the box when he or she is 500m away from finishing. In 100-kilometer race, runners do not charge past the finish line in a cluster like what happens in regular marathons; there may be one or two runners at the finish line instead. It’d be terribly awkward if the announcer were to be asleep when the runner comes in. Further, it is not possible to identify every runner by sight. So, with our boxes the runner can be identified automatically and the information, sent to the cloud. The information is then sent on to the mobile phone of the announcer at the finish line. The information received may read something like this: “Runner number 333, Wang Hui, is about to reach the finish line.” At this point, the announcer can react instantly, and make the announcement: “And now we have runner number 333 who has successfully completed the 100-km trail. Congratulations for your achievement!” This keeps the atmosphere buoyant, and the runner also feels recognized.
This identity concept can also be applied in scenarios like in the community, in property management, in the gym, etc. It’s like a key that can be used to open many, many doors. One will also have to partner service operators when implementing these scenarios. While we can focus on the hardware aspects of wearable devices as well as the most directly-related internet services, for application scenarios like these that extend outwards we have adopted a very open approach to partners, to whom we provide our APIs and cloud interfaces.
There are even more potential application scenarios out there. Some of our concepts are also being implemented in reality. For instance, recently, we have worked on a smart wristband with China Construction Bank which allows the user to withdraw cash from a cash machine directly. You can also wear this wristband on a run, then use it to buy a drink at the convenience store, and then use it to go home by bus and subway. Currently, for the CCB smart wristband these offline scenarios are only possible with the public transport system in the Shanghai area. We will extend this to other places like Beijing and Guangzhou later on.
So, I want to emphasize another important characteristic of wearables here: it is “lightweight”, not just in physical terms but also in terms of how easily it integrates into your life.
Operating characteristics of wearable devices: Integrates “Man” into the IoT and the information world.
The characteristics of wearable devices: Light, seamless [integration]
Roles:
1. Expresses the user’s identity in an extremely low-cost fashion.
2. Fundamental point: The user’s basic statuses can be broadcast to the entire information and IoT worlds in a very low-cost manner, thus generating interactions with IoT applications in the surroundings and creating new applications.
The example: Ultra trail races: Backend data opened up to partners, seamless tracking of runners; smart wristband tie-up with China Construction Bank
Case 2: Smart alert system at nursing homes
There are many new applications, some of which we are also studying, such as for nursing homes, in education, in smart offices, etc. I won’t talk about these examples one by one; you can take a look at the Huami web site, or speak to me about them. I hope that by talking about examples I will be able to inspire you here or other startups. If you believe that new application scenarios are possible with your systems together with the smart wristband or other wearable devices, we will be very happy to explore the subject with your further. We hope that the integration of wearable devices like smart wristbands can help solve issues in industry in an even more effective and low-cost manner.
Case 3: The smart household
The smart household concept is about an even shorter distance between man and machine. For instance, when the user looks at his or her watch, he or she would be able to check the status of the home air purifier; if the smog situation has worsened, he or she can remotely start up the air purifier at home first.
The biggest features of wearable devices: Lightweight — seamless — integration into everyday life — data is sent to the internet
The example: Sleep tracking, smart nursing home alert system, smart household linkage
What the vast amounts of data generated can do
Finally, I will talk about another possible direction for cooperation with external partners: Cooperation in the area of Big Data。 We have amassed a large amount of data with the Mi Band. For instance, we had over 30 million units of the Mi Band activated by users as of April this year. The monthly active users figure is also in the tens of millions. We have thought constantly, and worked, to find ways of unlocking greater meaning with this large amount of data in our hands.
In March this year, we released the White Paper on Sleep in China, and interacted with professors and postdocs from Peking University as well as consulted with behavioral science experts from the Fudan School of Economics. Through our in-depth engagement with them we learned that the data that we had is very valuable. While there have been reports on sleep behavior before, the sample size for these reports has always been small, with data obtained from survey questionnaires or phone calls. Or perhaps the data has been obtained from randomly-selected case files from hospital sleep clinics.
Here, we have data that has been directly obtained from users. You can say that the data is “cruder”. The size of the sample and the vast amount of data available makes the dataset truly “Big Data”. After hearing from the experts, we sorted the data by age group and population model of each province. And then we created the White Paper with true data pulled from billions of user records. This is a very valuable thing.
Allow me to share with you some results from the White Paper: Users slept for an average of 7 hours a night in 2016, which is 14 minutes fewer than the 2015 figure. Some types of data, such as the number of times the user turned over in a night (8), was impossible to obtain previously. In general, women slept better than men, who went to bed later and woke in the night more often.
These are the simpler results, and there is more complex content in the White Paper, such as: How the summer and winter vacations have a greater impact on the sleep patterns of elementary school students, though not on high-school and college students; and how during the Spring Festival the entire nation stays up late, etc.
Here’s an example: we all say that exercise helps you to sleep better. Is that borne out by our data? We have observed that those who exercise for around 10,000 steps in a day tend to fall asleep more quickly. And so we dug deeper: within this group, what is the best time for exercise as a sleep aid? Our analysis shows that exercising at dusk best aids sleep.
Of course, these are all phenomena that we have observed from Big Data, and the causal relationships within require further examination by scientists working across various disciplines. Experts working in the fields of psychology, medicine, and behavioral economics, etc., can analyze man quantitatively with the aid of this data.
In fact, we at Huami also wish to uncover more insights from our data, which is why we have also established the AI Lab that is focused on the cross-analysis of data. Our studies will continue, and of course, they will not be confined to the area of sleep.
What the vast amounts of data generated can do
The example: The White Paper on Sleep in China
The use and effect of data: The end objective is to improve the quality of life for people
Our research is now focused on relevance analysis. Thus, whether we can uncover deep relationships is also an area for further study. I am an avid jogger, which is why I have been thinking about we can collect even more data for studying the relationship between running and one’s heart rate. Unlike in other countries, such research is far and few in between here in China. This is also a new opportunity for our companies, or rather, a responsibility that we should undertake in the course of social development. Of course, this is also another benefit that wearables can bring to mankind: helping us to better understand ourselves in new ways.
Finally, I wish to say again that our vision is to integrate mankind seamlessly into the world of the internet, and I hope that this vision can be achieved as soon as possible.
