Translated material
Robots will cope better
What they work in the semi -secret laboratory of Google X: Esquire
Google X is a semi -secret laboratory, which is known for the creation of Google Glass points, a self -governing car and a project to launch stratostats for the distribution of the Internet in hard -to -reach places. Egor Mostovshchikov from Esquire became the first Russian journalist who managed to get there and talk with the head of Google X Astro Taleler.
Google X Laboratory was founded in 2010. Now more than 250 people work there - specialists in various scientific fields, there are even the owner of the Oscars for the best special effects. The laboratory is led by a graduate of Stanford Astro Teller, an artificial intelligence specialist.
Over the five years of existence, the Google X laboratory has not released a single finished product (even the Google Glass testing has turned up), but at least 500 ideas were discussed in it and they sent 30-40 of them to develop.
Nobody knows anything about most Google X projects. Only some products are known: self -governing machines can already drive without getting into an accident in good weather (they will go on sale no earlier than 2020); Loon stratostates tests are successful; Google Wing drones and contact lenses are being developed to measure blood sugar.
According to the head of the Laboratory of Astro Teller, the task of his employees is to look for a problem for Google. They are selected according to three main principles: the problem should be large -scale, its solution is quite radical and similar to science fiction, and it can be solved now. According to him, the development of the laboratory will change the future: for example, people may be friends to drive cars. But Teller does not see anything terrible in this: “There is enough reason to not let a person at all” - the robot will cope better.
The main thing in the work of Google X is experiments. According to Teller, they never seek to create an ideal prototype at once. Instead, laboratory staff do something working and immediately test it. “When we started to do LOON, we wanted to understand if we could communicate with the Earth with the balls? We knew that the experimental ball, rising higher, would swell until it bursts, but we realized that we can communicate with it - excellent, a check box, ”he said.
According to him, failures mean nothing. “People always talk about failures like us, they talk about failures as a final-ending. Failure - when you do not know what to do now, ”the experimenter is sure.
“I do not see any problem in the fact that people will listen to cars. The huge problem is that the people of the car drive. See for yourself: a person rides along the road, sees a little unevenness and begins to twist the steering wheel, although he needs to go straight. This is a fune-da-Men-tali-but bad interface, and even worse-it is unsafe. Robots will solve this problem at times better than people. ”