I've had the opportunity to enable another robot customer with Intel's Realsense Technology.  This one is the Zenbo robot from Asus, priced at only $599.  After working with them to integrate our 3D camera module and our person tracking middleware, Asus launched Zenbo at Computex this past Monday.  Realsense technology gives Zenbo 'vision' allowing it to follow people, detect people who have fallen down, as well as recognize arm gestures.  Teaching the robot to stop through gestures will be important in 20 years when the Terminators come :).  Below are highlights from the press event.  Here is the home page for info about the robot.  Great press here, saying Zenbo stole the show at Computex.

My most recent engagement has been driving Intel's initiative to put 3D cameras and sensors into robots, making them smarter and more useful in their environment.  Using Intel Realsense Technology, robots can create a map of their environment and navigate through it, identify people and follow them, and recognize objects in their environment.  A team of Intel hardware, software, and validation engineers worked with Ninebot to integrate Realsense technology into a Segway.  Our first milestone was a successful demo during Intel's keynote at CES this year.  This Segway Robot will be available to consumers in the near future.  Press response has been very positive, and it was great fun for me to manage a program with such an exciting future.  This is only the beginning of adding cameras and sensors to robots and other technology in our environment.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to be a judge for Intel's Make it Wearable Competition.  There were hundreds of entries from all over the world.  I was judging the Development track.  As explained on Intel's website, "The DEVELOPMENT track focuses on concepts that are both excitingly innovative and feasible to execute. The goal is to identify groundbreaking new wearable technology opportunities and offer entrepreneurship training to selected finalists that will accelerate the development of disruptive wearable technology into commercial products.

As judges, our responsibility was to evaluate the entries for the strength of the concept and its feasibility.  Our role was to narrow the entries down to 40 semi-finalists.  The ultimate winner of the competition when its complete will win $500K.  This was an incredibly exciting initiative in which to participate.  The creativity and imagination of these entrepreneurs was inspiring.  There were some amazing ideas for both consumer and business usages.  I truly can't wait for some of the ideas I saw come to market.  It made me realize that the future of wearables and the Internet of Things (IOT) is much more than fitness and email watches or Google Glass.  

Last year at CES, our team of engineers and product managers launched an exciting detachable notebook reference design called North Cape.  This year at Computex we unveiled an even more impressive design - a detachable 2 in 1 notebook reference design known as Llama Mountain.  The lid is a tablet with an Intel Core CPU in a fanless design.  Its incredibly thin at 7.2mm - thinner than an iPad Air; and very light at 670g.  Here is an interview I gave to thenextweb about the design.  Engadget called it probably the most significant announcement at Computex.  Our pre Computex sharing with OEMs has already resulted in an impressive similar design from Asus - the T300 Chi.

One of the many things my team does is to define the marketing requirements for Intel's Software Development Systems.  A few months ago the development system for Intel's Fourth Generation Core Processor became available.  The code name for this system is Harris Beach.  The intent of a Software Development System is to get it into the hands of Operating System Vendors and Independent Software Vendors earlier than the commercial launch of that platform.  It is also chock full of most of Intel's latest features and technology beyond the CPU, like NFC or a sensor hub.  This enables them to optimize and develop new software and usages.  Harris Beach was very well received by software developers.  It was not only a sleek, light design (about 3 pounds), but we developed attractive and even fun packaging for it.  The box plays the Intel 5 tone bong when it opens!  OK, this may get annoying after the initial novelty wears off, but initially its delightful.

There are many Harris Beach reviews across the internet, but I like this one in particular: 
http://ultrabooknews.com/2013/07/30/windows-8-developers-this-is-your-ultrabook-introducing-harris-beach/#more-9714

Look for more systems in the future!

Intel announced a new hybrid Ultrabook Monday January 7 at CES that was developed by my team.  Its a reference design that is 17mm high, about 3 pounds, with about 13 hours of battery life.  Its based on Intel's upcoming Fourth Generation Core Processor.  What makes this design particularly cool is that the lid can detach and become a tablet by itself.  The tablet weighs less than 2 pounds, but uses a 13.3" display which gives a much larger viewing area than an iPad.  And the tablet is only 10mm thin, yet has up to 10 hours of battery life.

That 13.3" display goes almost edge to edge.  But when you detach into tablet mode an Intel feature called 'Smart Frame" kicks in that shrinks the viewing and touching area several millimeters to give you room to hold the edges of the tablet with your thumbs.  Or push a button, and go back into the edge to edge display for media watching on the tablet.

Other great features include the 'one-handed detach'.  No need to hold down a mechanical switch while lifting the lid from a tight  hold.  Simply push a button that enables an electro-mechanical wire that releases the latches to allow an effortless removal of the tablet with one hand.  Read the review and watch the video at this link.

The system is also very stable and not prone to tip like other hybrid systems on the market today.  This is a challenge as the lid of a hybrid is much heavier than in a regular laptop, as most of the electronics are behind the lid.  But we designed this system with a 'porch' in the back, as well as extra batteries underneath the palm rest for great stability.

North Cape got great press from CES.  Check it all out here.  And here's an article featuring one of the interviews I gave.  And one of my favorite reviews was titled:  Intel Shows the Awesome Laptop You'll Be Using Next Year

PC World just did a story on the future of laptop computing.  It was sourced from many PC related companies, including Intel.  Here is my major quote:  

Gary Richman, a director in Intel's PC Client Solutions division, sees even more opportunities coming to light in the next five years. He imagines that PCs will become more context-aware, enabling them to detect other nearby devices and interact with them automatically. He also believes that PCs will become more like personal servants that can perform tasks even when they're not directly in use. For example, a laptop might be able to grab a video from your camera, transcode it, and upload it even when it's resting in a laptop bag. 

The story also uses images of our innovative Nikiski design.   The full article can be found here.

Intel's external facing news outlet did a profile about the role that my team and I played in influencing the PC industry to build notebooks with touch screen displays. You'll see them come to market when Windows 8 launches.You can read the profile here.
Also this week, I was interviewed by PC Magazine about my division's innovative PC designs, as well as picking up the story above about my contribution to influencing the PC industry to adopt touch screens on notebook displays.That story is here.

January 13, 2013 Update: Kirk Skaugen, VP and GM of Intel's PC division comments on making touch a requirement on future Ultrabooks, based on the research that my team drove.

My division at Intel (PC Client Solutions Division) designed and built a convertible Ultrabook concept known as Cove Point that was just showcased at IDF in Beijing.  It generated a lot of buzz that resulted in this interview that I gave to Wired yesterday.  There seems to be quite a lot of interest in this story as it was picked up by many news outlets and blogs worldwide.  I personally think that having a thin notebook that can also perform the functions of a tablet with Windows 8 will be very compelling, and it seems that others do as well, judging by the positive user comments from The Verge who picked up the original Wired story.