ies can be added to a shopping list that customers can access when on the move using an app for iOS, Android or Windows devices. Microsoft is providing computer vision capability as part of this collaboration with Liebherr . As a leading innovator of deep learning algorithms for image processing, Micro- soft’s deep learning technology is now the cornerstone of a wide variety of products, including the Microsoft Cog- nitive Services Computer Vision API which can – among other things – annotate new images with a wide variety of generic category labels and object tags. The underlying state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms themselves are also available within Microsoft’s open source Computa- tional Network Toolkit (CNTK) and can be used to build custom models for new use cases. Using the deep learning algorithms contained within CNTK, Microsoft data scientists worked with Liebherr to build a new image processing system to detect specific food products present inside a Liebherr refrigerator. Starting with a general purpose computer vision model learned from millions of generic images, the Microsoft system can learn to recognize new types of objects – milk cartons, ketchup bottles, pickle jars and much more – from example images. When a new image from inside a refrigerator is provided to the newly learned model, it can detect the presence of the objects it has seen before during training. The image result below shows an example image with labels of the food products detected (and confidence levels) overlaid. Although the current system is a prototype, the deep learning technology it uses is already very powerful and rapidly maturing. Liebherr and Microsoft are actively improving these technologies to turn the newest genera- tion of refrigerators into smart appliances that don’t just cool your food but interactively help you with your food management.
By Katie Davis
W e are joking but, there is no iFridge, but the Liebherr Group, which is a large equipment manu- facturer based in Switzerland has teamed up with Microsoft. Microsoft teaming up with Liebherr’s house- hold appliances division’s digital initiative to develop Liebherr’s next generation of the SmartDeviceBox. The SmartDeviceBox enables you to conveniently manage your appliance settings from your smartphone, tablet or other mobile device. If irregularities occur with your appli- ance, you will be notified by means of an alarm message – in real time, directly to your smartphone or tablet. The SmartDeviceBox saves you time and offers you maximum convenience . With the SmartDevice capability, future Liebherr refrig- erators will help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. Stored groceries can be monitored using internal cameras and object recognition technology. This process not only captures images for viewing but also recognizes individual food items inside the refrigerator. This information flows automatically into an inventory list, which lets the customer see quickly and clearly what is in the refrigerator from anywhere. Using the SmartDeviceBox voice module, additional grocer-
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • DECEMBER 2016
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