The fictional HAL 9000 is a sentient computer that made its infamous on-screen debut in Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the 1968 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, HAL is depicted in the form of multiple camera lenses containing a dot, which are scattered throughout the Discovery One spacecraft.
According to HAL’s Legacy: 2001’s Computer as Dream and Reality, edited by Rambus Fellow Dr. David G. Stork, HAL is capable of speech, speech recognition, facial recognition, natural language processing, lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting emotional behavior, automated reasoning and playing chess.
Rambus Fellow Dr. David G. Stork
Ultimately, HAL begins to break down and a decision is made to shut down the machine to prevent more serious malfunctions. Faced with the prospect of imminent disconnection, HAL decides to kill the astronauts in order to protect and continue its programmed directives.
“There is a reason Kubrick and Clarke chose to represent HAL with a camera lens,” Paul Karazuba, a Director of Product Marketing at Rambus, told us. “The creepiness factor of a camera that monitors your every move and can even read lips in real time should not be underestimated.”
As Karazuba notes, monitoring cameras in public places have become an accepted part of our daily lives.
“Law enforcement CCTV cameras populate the streets of most major cities; private retail shops use cameras as theft deterrent mechanism; airports use cameras for security, and private residences often employ security cameras,” he explained. “Frankly, most people don’t even notice these monitoring cameras anymore, as they’ve become ubiquitous.”
However, says Karazuba, cameras specifically designed to monitor human activity have been slow to make their way into homes.
“Although cameras are an ideal way to understand movement in any space, monitoring cameras still have not yet taken off in the home, as people are wary of such an overt violation of their personal space. When asked why cameras aren’t used in space monitoring applications (competing against PIRs, motion detectors, ultrasonic, and the like), OEMs blame the ‘creepy’ or ‘icky’ factor,” he confirmed. “Clearly, most people don’t want a monitoring cameras in certain areas of their homes, including living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and locker rooms.”
As Karazuba points out, while cameras are a ubiquitous part of modern laptops, phones and tablets, they weren’t specifically designed to be monitoring cameras.
“Let’s be clear, appropriate security may be able to be put in place to keep camera output data local. Nevertheless, even the risk of a hack is often enough for people to say ‘no’. Just look at how many people cover the camera in their laptop with tape,” he added.
In contrast, says Karazuba, Rambus lensless smart sensor (LSS) technology is capable of detecting and interpreting activity within a space at a size and performance previously unattainable with existing building sensing technologies, all without compromising privacy. As a visual sensor, LSS gathers scene information and can make intelligent decisions about what it ‘sees’; all without a camera lens, and lower risk of hack. LSS’s ‘blob’ output, a series of point-spread functions unique to the design, doesn’t allow for human understanding. However, machines can be taught to understand this blob, and ‘see’ within it.
“The data about the general activity and number of occupants in the area can be used to intelligently trigger environmental systems, monitor traffic flows and optimize area usage, reducing the environmental impact, and operating and maintenance costs,” he added. “With its tiny form factor, low power, low cost and wide field of view, LSS is an ideal sensing solution for smart building automation systems.”
Interested in learning more about Rambus lensless smart sensor technology? You can check out our official product page here and article archive here.
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