New home furnishings A.I. connects dots for product, design and preference … and fast
18 July 2023, furnituretoday
A new home furnishings artificial intelligence may have the potential to transform the furniture industry.
TAIWAN – Using the latest in spatial planning technology, a new home furnishings artificial intelligence may have the potential to transform the furniture industry.
“Today’s home furnishing industry is stuck in the ’80s,” said Kenny Du, founder and CEO of Homee AI, a Taiwanese artificial intelligence developer. “Our team developed an A.I. with 3D capabilities that can construct a realistic model of a space and seamlessly furnish the space based on the user’s preference in just a few seconds. Our goal is to accelerate the digital transformation for the home furnishing industry and make furnishing homes much easier and more fun.”
The AI can replace a room’s real furniture with furniture it recommends, based on a user’s design wishes and room dimensions.
Here’s how it works: Users simply open the camera on their smartphone and use it to look around whatever room they wish to redesign. The A.I. scans the room in 3D, learning its dimensions and current layout and design. Users can then remove, rotate or shift around their own furniture simply by clicking on it, and the A.I. will generate a new image, keeping the room’s measurements in mind.
Even more notably, the A.I. can replace a room’s furniture with pieces it thinks would work better for the room, whatever it thinks is more in-line with the room’s layout, design and dimensions.
“The A.I. will recommend a style to fit your room,” Du told Furniture Today. “If you’re in an expensive house, the A.I. could recommend a more luxurious style.”
Users can also have the A.I. recommend furniture and looks by price. If you want a home office for less than $1,000 for example, it can design it.
But this isn’t even the real kicker; furniture companies can utilize the A.I. within their own apps and sites. Ikea, for example, could subscribe to the A.I. and get it incorporated into its own app. On the Ikea app, users could then use the A.I. to redesign their rooms using only Ikea furniture. They then could purchase the recommended furniture through the Ikea app.
“The furniture retailer can subscribe to us, like they do with Shopify, but we have more,” said Du. “Our A.I. will generate their specific brand. They can incorporate this A.I. into their app. They just have to upload 3D models of their furniture into their system. Homee AI will recommend their furniture from their marketplace.”
Smaller retailers or retailers without their own app can have an automatic API created for them. All a brand has to do is upload 3D models of their furniture and other info, and an app will automatically be generated in their name in the app store.
“A brand can log in to the back end and upload furniture and price tag,” Du continued. “It’s like Shopify. Customers would just need to download that specific app. Every brand will have their own app.”
Furniture companies can also get access to a dashboard that incorporates enterprise resource planning, warehouse and logistics management, and customer relationship management capabilities, along with the A.I. app.
“Companies can even use the app to calculate their carbon footprint,” Du said.
Currently being beta tested in Taiwan, the service will launch in the U.S. in November with a waitlist for furnishings brands to queue one by one. Demo links will be sent to customers with pricing options, and it will be offered on a subscription basis.
Homee AI was showed off at London Tech Week and Viva Tech 2023, receiving lots of inquiries according to the company.
“We have interest from nearly a thousand brands around the world, with our first launch in London two weeks ago,” Du said. “We have brands from Paris, London, Italy, Australia, China and others.