Horizon Robotics joins hands with Xiaomi to create multiple smart devices

Xiaomi Mijia Smart Life New Product Launch Conference was held in Beijing. Three Xiaomi smart devices equipped with Horizon Robotics' self-developed Enhanced Speech Extraction (ESE) solution - Xiaomi Xiaoai Speaker PLAY, Xiaomi Xiaoai Speaker Universal Remote Control Panel and Xiaomi "Xiaoai Teacher" Pocket English Foreign Teacher - made their debut. After previously helping Xiaomi Xiaoai Touchscreen Speaker to create an intelligent voice front end, Horizon Robotics once again empowered multiple Xiaomi AIoT products to create a smooth and natural human-computer interaction experience.

In February this year, the Xiaomi Xiaoai touchscreen speaker equipped with Horizon's ESE solution was released and has been widely recognized by the market since its launch. For the Xiaoai speaker PLAY and Xiaoai speaker universal remote control panel released this time, Horizon further upgraded the ESE solution, significantly improving the wake-up rate under echo interference. At the same time, Horizon also maintained close cooperation with Xiaomi Brain to conduct fusion training on speech recognition technology (Automatic Speech Recognition, referred to as ASR), which greatly improved the accuracy of speech recognition.

Compared with the previous Xiaoai touchscreen speakers, Horizon has deeply optimized the Xiaoai Speaker PLAY and Xiaoai Speaker Universal Remote Control Panel released this time, reducing CPU and memory usage by 30%, significantly reducing power consumption. At the same time, considering the impact of wake-up rate and false alarm rate on user experience, Horizon R&D personnel also conducted in-depth analysis of the pronunciation characteristics, usage scenarios and noise types of wake-up words, and used the industry-leading deep neural network technology solution to optimize the system in a targeted manner. According to the project leader, the two Xiaomi Xiaoai speakers equipped with Horizon ESE solution released this time can be interrupted and woken up at any time in a complex noise environment, bringing users a smoother interactive experience.

At the press conference, Xiaomi's "Xiao Ai Teacher", a pocket English teacher that uses Horizon's ESE solution, was also unveiled as one of the blockbuster products of the event. "Xiao Ai Teacher" is not only an AI translator, AI oral training machine, AI voice recorder, AI repeater, but also an AI electronic dictionary and AI word memorization machine. Unlike the Xiao Ai speaker, "Xiao Ai Teacher" controls the start and end of sound pickup by buttons, and does not pick up sound continuously, which poses a challenge to the fast tracking of the algorithm. In response to this, Horizon has specially optimized the ESE solution, adding an adaptive equalization mechanism to adapt the recognition model. At the same time, by optimizing the front-end algorithm, voice noise reduction is effectively achieved, so that the voice recognition rate of Xiaomi's "Xiao Ai Teacher" remains at a relatively high level in the industry.

Regarding this cooperation, Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, said: "I am very happy to work with Xiaomi again to create heavyweight products for AIoT. AI on Horizon - being the most basic enabler in the AI ​​era is Horizon Robotics' strategic choice. In the future, Horizon Robotics will give full play to its underlying core technology advantages and continue to provide the industry with ultra-high cost-effective AI chips, extreme power efficiency, open tool chains, rich algorithm model examples and comprehensive enabling services, and continue to achieve customer success through full open empowerment."

At present, Horizon can provide a full-link solution in the field of voice, including front-end signal processing, wake-up, voice recognition, semantic understanding and voice synthesis. The solution adopts the latest deep learning algorithm, and through the effective combination of "end" and "cloud", it can better solve the problem of voice recognition in complex scenarios. In the field of intelligent driving, Horizon can also provide full-vehicle audio solutions, including in-vehicle noise reduction, recognition, multi-mode interaction, partitioned sound pickup, partitioned playback and enhanced in-vehicle communication. In addition, Horizon's voice solution can not only support ARM platforms, but also provide strong support for low-power DSP platforms.

Not long ago, Horizon Robotics announced its corporate strategy of "AI on Horizon, Journey Together" for the first time, which is to be the most basic enabler in the era of artificial intelligence, and to achieve success for customers through chip open empowerment. Based on this strategy, Horizon Robotics has enabled multiple partners in the fields of intelligent driving and AIoT based on its self-developed AI chips and algorithms. In the future, Horizon Robotics will continue to focus on the construction and polishing of the basic technology platform composed of edge AI chips + tool chains, and help customers create more and more amazing intelligent terminal products.