Intel is at the forefront of developing cutting edge technology that will shape our future. From cars to mobile phones, the US chipmaker is looking at making devices and machines more intelligent and more responsive to consumer behaviour.

Business Line met Mr Justin Rattner, Chief Technology Officer, at the recently held Research@Intel conference in San Francisco to know more about what the technology major is working on these days.

Devices are getting more intelligent with sensors and context awareness being built into it. Will machines soon start to think like humans?

When we talk about robot people usually think about abrupt transition. I don’t think its going to be such a sharp transition. We will increasingly be accustomed to not just personal devices, but also cars, homes, the work place – is just getting ever more intelligent and ever more human like. We will look back at today’s technology and we will say how did we ever put up with this technology? Today’s smart phone is not really smart. Recently, someone told me that the phone doesn’t know anything about the user any more than it did a year ago. It’s not constantly amazing me and its not anticipating my needs.

Isn’t this intuitive approach already beginning to happen in some areas like Google search?

Yes. It is beginning to happen on some platforms. We have been doing a lot of work like context aware handsets. Recently, we handed out some of these devices to families who were vacationing for trials. Initially, they were asked to give little bit of information about their likes and dislikes and from then on for the rest of time they were constantly interacting with the device. For example, they said they like jazz so the device would prompt them to a store nearby that’s got jazz music. When we went back wanted to take it back they wouldn’t let go of it.

When will this technology go commercial?

This technology is very close to coming to market. This will suddenly make devices much more aware of you by using a combination of hard sensors like where you are in space and time and soft sensor information like your calendar, contact, social network and drawing inferences which will give additional capabilities. This will make smartphones super smartphones.

As the CTO of Intel what keeps you awake given that technology is moving fast?

Intel is at a critical period for a company that’s been a bottom up company since its inception driven by things like data sheet, performance matrix and specs. It really faces a fundamental challenge to become top down company that realises that it’s got incredible technological capability but it’s got to be able to deliver it to consumers in different forms and shapes and in places where its not been before; where customers don’t judge you on traditional matrix.

Currently that approach to designing is not in our DNA, but more and more we are making it part of our DNA. That’s why social computing is an important move because we are trying to formalise not just in the labs but also product developers looking at the problem from that high level perspective from what users need and what experience they want.

That ultimately that translates down what we need to do at the chip level.

What role do you see for the R&D unit in India?

The R&D unit in Bangalore does two things - high performance computing and they are focussed on frugal engineering inspired by Tatas.

Under the frugal engineering project, our focus is how do we bring high tech to billions in India, China or Africa. We are building experimental devices focussed on leveraging 2G wireless infrastructure to create supplementary low-cost devices for things like measuring health data and air and water quality.

Intel has collaborated with many universities around the world to set up research centres. Have you looked at Indian universities like the IIT for such partnership?

We had talked to IIT but they are not comfortable with this idea of collaborative research institute. We don’t want to force anyone.

> tkt@thehindu.co.in

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