Xiaomi has kicked off its annual Mi Developer Conference (MIDC 2020) in Beijing with the theme “Technology for Life”. During the conference, the company unveiled different new technologies and, to mark its 10th anniversary, said it will put CNY 10 billion into its capex fund this year, with plans to recruit 5,000 more people to its engineering team next year.
New retractable wide-aperture lens for smartphones
First up, the company introduced its latest self-developed, retractable wide-aperture lens technology, inspired by traditional camera designs. The retractable optical structure is designed to lodge compactly within the smartphone, and to extend when needed. The system was developed to increase the amount of light input, and provide better performance for portrait and night photography. It also incorporates a new image stabilisation system, making the images more stable.
Smart Factory now full automatic
The company also announced that its Mi Smart Factory is now able to operate fully automatically 24/7, swiftly switching production lines every 20 minutes in order to improve efficiency. CEO Lei Jun said the system comes under Xiaomi’s goal to elevate China’s smart manufacturing capability and increase manufacturing efficiency for all of the company’s partners.
Xiaomi Share Development Framework
Xiaomi also introduced the Xiaomi Share Development Framework with two function modules, namely a Collaboration Kit and a MiPay Kit. Developers will be able to use device collaboration and screen casting features on third-party devices, instead of only being limited to Xiaomi developed products and applications. The Xiaomi Share Development Framework will continue to open up more function modules in the future, such as NFC Tap kit, Relay kit, FileShare kit for developers.
New integrated IoT software platform, latest AI assistant
The company said that its new Xiaomi Vela integrated IoT software platform will help developers access a vast variety of software components and easy-to-use frameworks, with tailorability and code reusability. The platform will come on Xiaomi’s IoT module and help create support for most categories of smart home devices. The company added that it is also developing the software framework and components needed to support applications such as smart speakers, smart bands, and smart watches, and will be gradually implementing them on other devices.
The company in addition showed the next generation of its XiaoAi AI assistant, XiaoAi AI assistant 5.0. The AI and smart living assistant sports full-scenario intelligent collaboration, conversational active intelligence, customized voice with emotions, multi-modal visual capabilities, and smart learning assistance.
Open sourcing Xiaomi’s AI framework
Finally, the company announced the official open sourcing of the Mace Micro microcontroller AI framework, allowing more AIoT devices to be equipped with high-performance AI capabilities.
