As one of the world’s four major museums, the British Museum welcomes over 6 million overseas visitors every year. The mummy coffins in the Egyptian Pavilion are engraved with thousand-year-old incants, the blue and white lotus patterned vases in the Chinese Pavilion shine with the glaze of the Ming Dynasty, and the three scripts on the Rosetta Stone conceal the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian script. However, this hall brimming with the treasures of human civilization has long been held back by the challenge of guiding visitors: tourists who speak minority languages can only sigh at the signs of the exhibits, the noise during peak season drowns out the explanations, and the cultural details of the precious exhibits are “hidden too deeply”… It was not until Yingmi Technology brought in the A8 team tour guide, which was specially customized for international venues, that these stories of civilizations spanning a thousand years could truly and clearly reach the ears of global tourists.
I. The “Tour Guide Dilemma” of the British Museum: The Unspeakable Regret of a Thousand-year-old Treasure
Mr. Smith, the operations manager of the British Museum, can’t help but frown whenever he talks about the guided Tours during the peak season: “We have over 8 million exhibits, but for a long time, we can only provide explanations in English, French and Spanish, and only focus on 5% of the key exhibits.” An Arab tourist stared at the “Yongle Blue and White Bowl” for 20 minutes. In the end, he could only take a photo of the display board with his mobile phone for translation. He didn’t even understand the inscription “Made in Yongle of the Ming Dynasty” at the bottom of the bowl. The regretful look in his eyes when he left is still vivid in my memory. These are not accidental troubles; they are the pain points that the museum has been suppressing for many years:
1.Multilingual gap: Global tourists “can’t understand” civilizations
The overseas visitors to the British Museum come from over 100 countries, including German scholars who study ancient Egyptian, Arab collectors obsessed with Chinese ceramics, and Spanish tourists who want to learn about the civilizations of the two river basins. However, previously, there was no service for minor languages in the library at all. For instance, when it came to German and Arabic, the staff had to use translation software to handle emergencies. Professional terms were often translated inaccurately.
Last summer, a group of German scholars came all the way to study the Rosetta Stone, wanting to know the “correspondence rules between hieroglyphics and secular scripts”. They found three staff members, but none of them knew German. In the end, they could only flip through “hieroglyphs match demotic” on their phones. Scholars discussed around the screen for a long time, but still couldn’t figure out “the usage scenarios of different characters”. Professor Miller, who led the team, said helplessly, “The Rosetta Stone is the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian script, but we haven’t even understood the logic of its characters. This research trip is like ‘walking in the dark’.”
2. Visitor Flow Disruption: The “Noisy Problem” of Exhibition Halls during Peak Season
The Egyptian and Chinese sections of the British Museum are always full. During peak season, many teams are crowded in front of the display cases to give explanations, with the sounds of English, Chinese and Spanish mixed together. Coupled with the sound of camera shutters and the conversations of visitors, it feels as if the ears are stuffed with noise. Emily, who is in charge of the reception at the China Pavilion, said, “Once, an old lady wanted to hear about the source of the cobalt material in the blue and white porcelain vase. The explanation from the team sitting next to her was too loud, so the old lady had to move closer to the guide and almost knocked over the isolation barrier in front of the display case.” What’s more troublesome is that the signal of the traditional audio guide will be cut off in a dense crowd. “As soon as I mentioned ‘cobalt comes from Persia’, the voice froze to ‘cobalt comes from…’ The tourists could only guess the second half of the sentence and didn’t even catch the basic craftsmanship.
3. Cultural Interpretation “Too superficial” : Civilization is “deeply hidden” in the details
Each exhibit conceals a “code of civilization” – the three characters on the Rosetta stone were engraved in different periods (hieroglyphics for deities, secular characters for the common people, and Greek characters for the government), the cobalt material of the Yongle blue and white bowls was fired at a high temperature of 130℃ , and the paintings on the Egyptian mummy coffins correspond to the meanings of specific deities. However, these details are either written on the display board as “Ancient artifacts” or briefly described by the tour guide. During peak tourist hours, even basic information such as “The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799” cannot be conveyed through.
A Spanish collector looked at the “Yuan Dynasty Blue and White Guiguzi Descending the Mountain Jar” for half an hour and asked Emily, “What is the story of the characters on the jar?” Emily could only say, “it’s a Chinese ancient story,” and couldn’t answer any further questions. Later, he wrote in the guestbook, “I want to know who Guiguzi is, but no one can tell me clearly.” Looking at that line of words, I felt extremely guilty – such precious cultural details should be understood by more people. Emily said.
4. Equipment compatibility “card standards” : European regulations are “hard to break”
The UK has strict requirements for the certification of electronic devices and radio frequency. Previously, other brands of audio guides were tried in the museum. Either they failed to meet the CE certification and were required to be out of service, or their battery life shrank in the humid weather of London – the original 8-hour battery life was reduced to only 4 hours. When tourists were halfway through their visit, the battery ran out and they had to ask the staff to replace the equipment. Surely, we can’t let tourists visit museums with “non-compliant” or “dead power” devices, can we? This not only affects the experience, but also is irresponsible for the transmission of civilization. Mr. Smith said helplessly.
Ii. Yingmi?A8 Team Guide: A “Civilization Decoder” Customized for the British Museum
After learning about the predicament of the British Museum, Yingmi did not use the “universal” equipment to make up for it – the team stayed in the museum for 18 days, following Emily every day to record the routes of visitors: I saw that people stayed the longest in the Egypt Pavilion and the China Pavilion. I heard overseas tourists often ask about “the meaning of the text”, “the details of the craftsmanship”, and “the historical background”. I even tested the signals of different pavilions (the signal in the Egypt Pavilion is prone to be weak due to the stone display cases). Combining its investment in an SMT assembly factory in 2021 and its ability to achieve full-chain control from R&D to production, it has finally launched the A8 team guide, which is specially optimized for international museums. Every design is tailored to the needs of the British Museum.
1. Precise coverage in 7 languages: Ensuring “flawless” interpretation of every civilized sentence
The Yingmi A8 team guide supports seven languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Arabic, Korean and Spanish – precisely covering the needs of 92% of overseas visitors to the British Museum. More importantly, the content of the explanation is not a simple translation. Instead, it has been carefully reviewed sentence by sentence by Yingmi in collaboration with archaeologists from the British Museum and a senior multilingual translation team. Even the professional terms have been repeatedly checked.
When Professor Miller brought the German scholars back, the scholars listened to the explanations of the Rosetta Stone in German and from time to time marked the corresponding relationships of the words in their notebooks. “Before, we could only guess, but now we can even understand the users of each language. It’s even better than our experience at the Berlin Museum!” ” Miller held Mr. Smith’s hand and said, “This device has enabled us to truly ‘understand’ the Rosetta Stone, not just ‘see’ it.”
2. 2.4G Anti-interference Technology: “No noise” for multiple teams in the same field
To address the pain point of “multiple teams giving explanations simultaneously” at the British Museum, the A8 team guide device adopts 2.4G wireless digital transmission technology and a customized anti-interference algorithm, supporting 16 independent channels running in parallel. Even if 8 teams are giving explanations simultaneously in the Egyptian Pavilion, the sounds from different channels will not interfere with each other. Visitors wearing the receiver can only hear the explanations of their own teams.
Last National Day during the peak season, the China Pavilion had three teams in Chinese, English and Arabic. Emily followed the Chinese team to explain the Yongle blue and white bowl: “The cobalt material of this bowl was imported from Persia and fired at 1300℃, which is why the glaze is so bright.” The explanations of the Arab team beside her were completely unaffected. An Arab tourist even specifically asked Emily, “Why are your explanations so clear?” We were always disturbed by other teams at other museums before. Emily smiled and explained, “This is the anti-interference technology of Yingmi, which can ‘separate’ sounds from different channels.”
What is even more worth mentioning is that the signal coverage radius of A8 reaches 200 meters. Even if visitors walk freely within the exhibition hall – for instance, getting close to the glaze of the blue and white bowls or squatting beside the Roselta Stele to read the details of the text – they will not miss any explanations. A German scholar, in order to take pictures of the hieroglyphics on the stone tablet, was 15 meters away from the team. After returning, he said, “The explanations didn’t stop at all. I even heard all the small annotations of the characters.” Emily said.
3. 12-hour battery life + Compliance certification: Enjoy a hassle-free tour throughout the entire store
In response to the humid climate of London and the museum’s opening hours from 10:00 to 18:00, the A8 team has made special optimizations to the audio guide: the battery uses heat-resistant cells and can last for up to 12 hours in an environment of 10-25℃, fully covering the entire day of visits. The shell is made of material with a waterproof rating of IP54. Even if water is sprinkled during cleaning inside the museum, it will not get damaged by water ingress.
Tom, who is in charge of equipment management, is most satisfied with the batch charging boxes: “Previously, when we collected the equipment every day, we had to plug in the wires one by one to charge it. I was so exhausted that my back ached.” Now, the A8 uses a centralized charging box that can charge 60 units at a time. You can tell which unit is fully charged just by looking at the LED lights, which saves a lot of trouble. More importantly, the A8 passed the European CE and ROHS certifications during the research and development stage, fully complying with the UK’s electronic device regulations. Unlike previous devices, there is no need to “worry about being deactivated due to compliance issues”.
4. Lightweight design: Meeting the museum’s demand for “quiet visits”
The receiver of the A8 weighs only 85 grams, even lighter than a mobile phone. Tourists can wear it around their necks or put it in their pockets, and they won’t feel tired even after a whole day of sightseeing. The headphones adopt a semi-in-ear design, which does not press on the ears and can also reduce external noise. A 70-something German grandma wore the A8 for six hours and said, “It’s much more comfortable than my previous large headphones. My ears don’t hurt at all.” ” Emily said that even some children were willing to wear it. “The previous device was too heavy and the children would pull it down after wearing it for a while. Now the A8 is light and they can listen quietly along.”
Iii. The “Visible Upgrade” of Civilization Transmission: Data and Word-of-Mouth Speak
The Yingmi?A8 team audio guide has been in use at the British Museum for six months. The changes are not “self-praise”, but are solid evidence from the operation data and visitor feedback:
1.The stay time of overseas tourists has “doubled”
Previously, overseas tourists left after an average of three hours of sightseeing, but now they can stay for six hours – 50% of the tourists will voluntarily ask to “stay a little longer”, for example, after listening to the explanation of the Rosetta Stone, they will follow other language groups to listen to detailed explanations. Mr. Smith was flipping through the statistics and said, “There was an Arab collector who stayed for an extra three hours just to listen to the explanation of the craftsmanship of the blue and white bowls. Before leaving, he even said, ‘Next time, I’ll bring my friends here so they can also listen to these stories.'”
2. Opening New Doors for the Dissemination of Civilization
What surprised Mr. Smith the most was that an Egyptian archaeologist, after listening to the explanation of the mummy coffin through A8, specially contacted the museum, hoping to jointly carry out the “Interpretation of Ancient Egyptian Civilization” project. There are also museums in Spain that want to introduce the A8 interpretation plan. “Previously, our exhibits could only be ‘seen’, but now they can be ‘understood’. This is the core value of museums – to enable civilization to transcend language and reach more people’s hearts.” ” Smith said.
Conclusion: Let civilization transcend language and let treasures “be heard”
One evening before the museum closed, Emily saw a German scholar wearing an Yingmi A8, listening to the explanations repeatedly in front of the Rosetta Stone. The setting sun filtered through the glass and fell on the stone. The German explanations in the equipment gently wafted out: These three languages have brought the ancient Egyptian script, which had been lost for 2,000 years, back to light… The scholar listened while drawing a table of corresponding words in his notebook, his face full of satisfaction.
The Yingmi A8 team’s audio guide at the British Museum is not merely an “audio guide tool”, but also a “bridge of civilization” – it enabled German scholars to understand the code of the Roseta stele, allowed Arab tourists to appreciate the craftsmanship of Yongle blue and white porcelain, and enabled Spanish tourists to grasp the cuneiform script of the two river basins.
In the future, Yingmi will continue to optimize the functions of A8 – for instance, by incorporating a cloud-based content management system to facilitate museums in quickly updating their explanations. Add minor languages such as Russian and Portuguese to enable tourists from more regions to understand the stories of civilizations. After all, the transmission of good civilization should not have language barriers. What Yingmi wants to do is to break down this barrier, so that the story of every human treasure can be clearly heard by every tourist around the world. This is not only the responsibility of Yingmi as a technology enterprise, but also its original aspiration to promote global cultural exchange.