“Embedded Vision: Computers Seeing You”
A Conversation with Bruce Kleinman, Corporate VP, Platform Marketing, Xilinx;Jason Bluming, General Manager, Technical Strategy, Microsoft; and Ian Weightman, President, IMS Research; hosted by Scott Gardner, General Manager and EIC, Embedded Vision Alliance
SG: All of this has been in research for decades, but is there really an inflection point causing all this tech to take off.
BK: Xilinx used in applications form wired to wireless, almost anything that doesnt sell 10 million units per quarter. Over the past two years, moores law is enabling customers to do embedded, which carries limitations in cooling capacities. The real magic of embedded is in the software. Hardware necessary to use these advanced analytics are now able to deliver capabilities that previously would not have been available.
SG: What technical and market forces made this possible?
JB: Sensor in Kinect is groundbreaking, but the software turned tech into a magical experience and the ability to bring those together is accelerating. What the team has done differently is to move to a consumer focus. From day 1, the experience has to be magic.
SG: The tech has been around for 5 years. What is happening with maturation of the tech?
IW: Initially, it was an all-around security sector. In early days, the tech was oversold, the algorithms werent there. Over the last 18 months, much more energy has been put into it. Now algorithms are truly there and intense compute is also. What brought that home was panel of Cisco, Micro, etc, which felt like early days of wireless. This is going to be something big.
SG: Kinect has proven what’s possible and allowed hobbyists to develop fascinating apps. What’s the impact of this on users, existing and emerging businesses, etc?
IW: Fact that its going into so many verticals is very exciting. Being able to metatag video, through medical and automotive there are so many apps that will affect so man parts of our lives.
BK: Rare to see an embedded tech across so many markets. In just the past 2 years, the level of interest is coming from all markets — consumers, ISM, automotive, machine vision for factory implementation. Rare tech that’s vertical all across markets.
SG: Not just about replicating what the human eye can do. Can accurately measure distances and do things with a fidelity that the human eye cant do.
JB” With kinect, the team did a great job with the interface. Secondary interfaces are coming into play eg. robots that can tell when things are too close. As this increases, it creates a secondary interface that will change the way people interact.
IW: Being able to analyze a digital video stream to develop data is straight analytics. Predictive analytics can use measurements to predict the future. This opens a huge plethora of potential applications.
SG: Who are the winners and losers? What will be the applications?
IW: Winners are tech companies and companies producing algorithms. In consumer set, Samsung and LG and beyond to advertising industry, etc through live streaming feedback to tailor ads.
JB: With more and more devices connected, there needs to be a common set of experiences and a cultivated ecosystem without losing the integrity of the ecosystem.
SG: Where is this going in the next 5 years?
BK: Shipped emulation product to customers to get feedback and in just 6 months of time, they’re getting feedback from customers in forms theyve never seen before. No one can foresee the end result of networked devices tied together.
JB: Big sister. As more and more devices are sensing, the level of trust required becomes higher and higher. Services companies will be providing comfort to users through acting on their behalf to protect privacy and allow only what they desire.
IW: Ditto privacy concern. Feedback element will be needed. Biggest impact on humanity will be preventative medicine.