Intel aims to give devices human-like senses
Intel's venture capital arm has created a $100 million fund to finance projects and startups that will accelerate the development of computing devices with human-like senses.
The so-called Intel Capital Experiences and Perceptual Computing Fund will invest the $100 million over the next two to three years into software and application development projects, including broader touch applications, imaging, gesture, voice and emotion sensing and biometrics, Intel Capital said.
In other words, the aim is to develop tech that will give computing devices the ability to see, hear and feel like people do.
For example, the photo above shows a marketing engineer in the Intel Perceptual Computing Group, using a 3-D camera mounted atop an all-in-one computer screen to demonstrate hand gesture control.
The $100 million kitty will complement Intel Capital's $300 million ultrabook fund, which was launched in 2011 to finance the development component technologies to make the company's computing devices thinner, lighter and more secure.
Intel launched its perceptual computing initiative last year during its annual Intel Developer Forum. Since then, the company's perceptual computing software developer kit has been downloaded more than 10,000 times, Intel Capital said.
The company and its partners have already made some advancements in perceptual computing. An interactive gesture camera from Creative, the Senz3D, will be available to consumers in the third quarter of the year. Intel also is working with multiple partners to build the 3D depth camera tech into various devices with a targeted availability in the second half of 2014.
Photo: Intel Free Press
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com