Justin Rattner, during his keynote at the Intel Developer Forum in
Francisco
interactions, robotics and improvements in computer's ability to sense the real
world. He said Intel's research labs are already looking at human-machine
interfaces and examining future implications to computing with some promising
changes coming much sooner than expected. He also demoed a new form of wireless, wireless power.
Cutting the Last Cord, Wireless Power
Imagine being able to walk into an airport or room with your laptop and
instead of consuming battery, it is recharged. Based on principles proposed by
MIT physicists, Intel researchers have been working on a Wireless Resonant
Energy Link (WREL). Rattner demonstrated powering a 60-watt light bulb without
the use of a plug or wire of any kind, which is more than is needed for a
typical laptop.
The magic of WREL is that it promises to deliver wireless power safely and
efficiently. The technology relies on strongly coupled resonators, a principle
similar to the way a trained singer can shatter a glass using her voice. At the
receiving resonator's natural frequency, energy is absorbed efficiently, just
as a glass absorbs acoustic energy at its natural frequency. With this
technology enabled in a laptop, for example, batteries could be recharged when
the laptop gets within several feet of the transmit resonator. Many engineering
challenges remain, but the company's researchers hope to find a way to cut the
last cord in mobile devices and someday enable wireless power in Intel-based
platforms.
Programmable Matter: Computers that Change Shape
Intel researchers are also investigating how millions of tiny micro-robots,
called catoms, could build shape-shifting materials. If used to replace the
case, display and keyboard of a computing device, this technology could make it
possible for a device to change physical form in order to suit the specific way
you are using it. A mobile computer, for example, could be tiny when in a
pocket, change to the shape of an earpiece when used as a mobile phone, and be
large and flat with a keyboard for browsing the Internet or watching a movie.
Rattner described this as a difficult exploratory research agenda, but
steady progress is being made. He demonstrated for the first time the results
of a novel technique for fabricating tiny silicon hemispheres using
a process used today to make silicon chips. This capability is one of the basic
structural building blocks needed to realize functional catoms, and will make
it easier to bring the necessary computational and mechanical components
together in one tiny package less than a millimeter across. The technique is
compatible with existing high-volume manufacturing and enables the possibility
to produce such catoms in quantity at some point in the future.
Dr. Michael Garner, program manager of Emerging Materials Roadmap, joined
Rattner onstage to discuss the importance of research of novel silicon
technology, keeping
alive and well through the next decade and beyond. Among other things, Intel is
researching how to go beyond planar transistors to 3D transistors and is
looking at using compound semiconductors to replace silicon in the transistor
channel. Looking further out, Intel is exploring into a variety of
non-charge-based technologies that could one day replace
altogether.
Robots: From the Factory Floor to Your Kitchen
Robots today are primarily used in the factory environment, designed to
perform a single task repeatedly and bolted down. To make robotics personal,
robots need to move and manipulate objects in cluttered and dynamic human
environments, according to Rattner. They need to be cognizant of their
surroundings by sensing and recognizing movement in a dynamic physical world,
and learn to adapt to new scenarios. Rattner demonstrated two working personal
robot prototypes developed at Intel's research labs. One of the demonstrations
showed electric field pre-touch that has been built into a robot hand. The
technique is a novel sensing modality used by fish but not humans, so they can
"feel" objects before they even touch them. The other demonstration
was a complete autonomous mobile manipulation robot that can recognize faces
and interpret and execute commands as generic as "please clean this
mess" using state-of-the-art motion planning, manipulation, perception and
artificial intelligence.
In addition to robots becoming more human-like, Rattner said he believes
more innovation will emerge to make human and machine interaction more robust.
Randy Breen, chief product officer of Emotiv Systems, joined Rattner onstage to
demonstrate the company's EPOC* headset. The Emotiv EPOC identifies brainwave
patterns, processes them in real time and tells a game what conscious or
non-conscious thoughts the user has had, like facial expressions, conscious
actions or emotions. A user with the headset could think about smiling or
lifting an object, and an avatar in a game would execute it. EPOC can currently
identify more than 30 different "detections" through the 16 sensors
on the headset.