Father of Android Andy Rubin: from the virtual reality of the Internet-the Internet, Android-IT information

Artificial intelligence and networking has arrived. Andy Rubin wanted them to have fun together.

PaloAlto, dead center, California has a huge warehouse, a three-storey high ceiling, at least 15,000 square feet of open space. Google, Facebook, and HP was born in this area. This building is representative of the most valuable real estate on the planet. In the Interior of the building, a group of workers were installing soundproof glass, for redevelopment. If Andy Rubin and his supporters had achieved their objectives, society and business are not just to data, calculations, and learning of the Internet changed, even around the world run will change dramatically, this apricot canning factory will become the front of these great changes, "atomic bomb".

▲ Andy Rubin's Playground: construction

Ten or 20 years later, maybe a short time later, we look back on today's Internet, will snicker to its original state. In 2016, we will tell our children and not the actual Internet. 2016 we will be as the beginning stages of change-a change of heart in 2001, with the rise of Google, or in the mid 1980 of the 20th century, the emergence of computing. 2016 will be remembered, because in that year, the Internet broke through the black glass screens and fluorescent display limit, will be also included in the real world. It is known as driving Internet (Actuated Internet)-the virtuous circle of real-world objects, large-scale artificial intelligence and can control all the valuable things in our life command-and-control. Rubin and his co-founder, Bruce Leak, Peter Barrett, Matt Hershenson bet they called Playground, the new company will play a central role in the process of achieving this goal.

On a sunny spring day, I had an interview with Rubin, he showed me around the Playground, we discuss his long-term goals. The Wired magazine recently published an article, introduced his ambitious plan. Attracted by this article, I plan to interview with Rubin. Silicon Valley, most of the people know that Rubin is the creator of Android. Android is Google's response to Apple's tight control of the iPhone operating system has launched the open source operating system. But Rubin, in essence, is an inventor, who invented robots, software agents, new hardware devices. Playground,Rubin and his team is building a new factory--around the corner ahead of a world, and then creation can flourish in the world of products and companies.

? Map: Playground of a machine shop

Rubin showed me around the Playground--the space in the workplace now smaller, next to a Playground of new buildings under construction model. He knew the Playground in the company. Playground in has part company is with venture fund investment of (it from Google, and HP and other company raised has 300 million dollars), has part company is hatch project (it investment has 14 a company, yihou also has more this class investment, which seven a company of Office places on in Playground of headquarters), also has part company is full service design and the fast prototype work room. Playground investment company is free to use by experienced programmers, industrial designers, millions of dollars ' worth of computer machines and 3D printer. In fact, they created new products and the creation of a new company, you may need all the resources, almost everything here.

This on leads has a problem: what is what of Grand target can will these company maintain in with? Wired magazine Shang of articles attempts to for analysis, it think Rubin of new target is created a AI drive of new calculation platform--does, Rubin created Playground of background is such of, he told I, almost each across 12 years around on will appeared a new of calculation platform. Command line in the 1970 of the 20th century emerged, 80 's graphical user interface, 90 's network, mobile Internet appeared in the early 21st century. Everyone keep an eye on what's the next computing platform, the Wired magazine regarded as artificial intelligence services, but I'm not sure whether this is comprehensive.

Rubin told me that his desire is not to achieve the computing platform. He knows that to implement such a complex eco-system from top to bottom will fail. His wish was, in artificial intelligence services appear ready--before the right place, the right time, with appropriate company, team and infrastructure. Almost every major technology companies invested huge resources in artificial intelligence services. Rubin wants to do is create some companies, when artificial intelligence services appeared, these companies have to have a certain size.

Rubin investment companies that digital technology and simulation technology--the magic of the digital world into the real world, and real-world feedback to the magic of the digital world. We use this technology can manipulate things more, the closer the "reality of the Internet" – it not only across the world, and can manipulate the whole world--the combination of Internet and real, we seem to have controlled the world of magic.

Rubin reminded me, VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet application, VisiCalc Apple II successful than MS-DOS and GUI platform in early development for a long time. Once the platform has the scale, the spreadsheet into a huge industry, it spawned many large companies such as Microsoft and Lotus (in any case, at least for the period of time is the). Up to a point, Playground's goal is to continue the development of artificial intelligence and Internet to create products like VisiCalcs.

Use quantifiable data and processes to control the physical world, it is this demand to Rubin of investment companies work closely together. Most companies producing entities within the Playground equipment-you can control the real world of hardware, data, sensor, processing power to control it. In other words, Rubin investment companies that digital technology and simulation technology--the magic of the digital world into the real world, and real-world feedback to the magic of the digital world. We use this technology can manipulate things more, the closer the "reality of the Internet"-and with it, can not only count the whole world, and you can control the whole world--the combination of the Internet and the real world, we seem to have controlled the world of magic. (After all, Robin was an early engineer General Magic company).

According to our current understanding of the network, the network is composed of millions of digital objects – Web pages, databases, applications, and so on. Google created a platform that can index all of your data, and provides a method for browsing such indexes, so the company developed into a leading Internet industry. Then Google applications have been created to take advantage of these data-maps, Finance, and so on.

But Google only digital object data. Rubin will be real-world objects as data needs to be extracted, indexed, processed, understood and controlled. "The Internet was a brain in a jar," he explained, "but the real world outside of the jar. "Rubin's mission is to create products and companies to link both inside and outside the jar. Rubin is interpreted in this way: extracts data from the real world, dealing with these data in the cloud, and then take measures to control the physical world.

So what is the solution to what it's like? Rubin showed me around the Playground of a few new companies, but I'm not here. I have introduced a handful of companies, such as pHin, throw it is a small device in the swimming pool or Jacuzzi. What use does it have? it can extract data from a pool of water, and then send the data to the pHin company headquarters, where analysis of swimming pool water chemistry to determine pool and what chemicals are needed, and these chemicals are then tailored as a "laundry ball". As long as the "laundry ball" thrown in the water, the PH value of the water can be adjusted to the perfect state. You do not know your pool Actuated is an object that can be calculated from it on the Internet?

There is an example: uAvionix is a project founded by the legendary Paul Beard company. Paul is an inventor, he patented the list goes on (for example, one is manufacturing DVR patent).

▲uAvionix Ping

UAvionix United States Federal Aviation Administration using hardware and processes to locate the plane in the air, and for links. The original system is a complex system of old, you need to install an 8-pound radar transponder, uAvionix be reduced into a device weighing 8 grams, called Ping (pictured above). Why would he do this? can install a Ping on each plane. It can not only solve the recent drone hit the aircraft, but also create a "drone of the Internet"-used to identify, control, and ultimately coordinated air, all of the fliers on the ground (of course above acquisition payload records the location, history, owners and other information). If we want the drone to travel around for delivery, we will need to install them to the Internet, right?

Playground has also invested in a company called CastAR, augmented reality company it is a secret, it can use the glasses (Yes, just like glass) in real-world painted on the surface of highly realistic three dimensional visual effects (usually with space Magic Leap, Oculus, and other integrated with the device). He also demonstrated for me CastAR technology and game programs. Game case is exciting, but once their miniaturization and connected to a powerful artificial intelligence platform, this is the ultimate effect of this technology really exciting. I think augmented reality is better than a purely virtual reality (Oculus range) is more demanding, functions are more powerful. CastAR positioned not only to use simple applications (immersion games VisiCalc) achieved initial success, and once the market matures, it should also be run any standard platform for augmented reality (augmented reality for Microsoft).

Playground's other investments include deep learning infrastructure, application health analysis software, smart Wifi devices, and so on. Rubin has just started, wait until the summer, he completely rebuilt the ceiling and former cannery now, to create more companies, innovations and products. Robin, after all, there are hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, and certainly there will be more money. Once the Playground was a shot, Rubin plans to open up the source code, the entire ecosystem is built on the reality of the Internet.

If a powerful Internet based on artificial intelligence control can become a reality, we should be thankful. The Internet will be closely integrated with the physical world, we must also reflect on its core philosophy. This Internet is likely to be a monopoly, tightly controlled in the hands of a few companies. But there is a better choice. It can be messy, robust, open source, just like HTML-based network, or, as Robin's Android operating systems. We support open source – and we are very pleased that Rubin is also open source.

安卓之父Andy Rubin：让互联网从虚拟变成现实 - 互联网,安卓 - IT资讯

人工智能和物联网已经到来。Andy Rubin想让它们在一起好好玩。

加州PaloAlto市的正中心有一栋巨大的仓库，天花板有三层楼高，至少有15,000平方英尺的开放空间。Google、Facebook和HP就诞生这个地区。这座建筑是地球上最有价值的房地产的代表。在这个建筑的内部，一组工人正在安装隔音玻璃，进行重建。如果Andy Rubin和他的支持者们实现了目标，社会和企业不仅是对数据、计算、互联网的认识发生巨大变化，甚至对周围世界的运行方式的认识也会发生巨大变化，而这栋杏黄色的前罐头加工厂将会成为这些巨大变化的“原爆点”。

▲Andy Rubin的Playground：建设中

十年或二十年之后，或许更短的时间之后，我们回顾如今的互联网，会为它的原始状态窃笑。2016年，我们会告诉孩子并没有实际的互联网。我们会将2016年视为阶段更迭的开端——这种变化无异于2001年谷歌搜索的异军突起，或是20世纪80年代中期电脑运算的出现。2016年将会被人们铭记，因为在这一年里，互联网突破了黑色玻璃屏和荧光显示器的限制，将现实世界也包括了进来。它被称为驱动互联网（ Actuated Internet）——现实世界对象的良性循环、大规模人工智能，以及能操控我们生活中一切有价值的事物的命令与控制。Rubin和他的合伙创始人Bruce Leak、Peter Barrett、Matt Hershenson打赌他们名叫Playground的新公司将在实现这一目标的过程中发挥核心作用。

一个阳光明媚的春日，我采访了Rubin，他带我参观了Playground，我们一起讨论了他的长期目标。《Wired》杂志最近发表了一篇文章，简要介绍了他那野心勃勃的计划。受这篇文章的吸引，我计划采访Rubin。硅谷大部分的人都知道Rubin是安卓系统的创造者。安卓系统是谷歌公司为了应对苹果公司严格控制的iPhone操作系统而推出的开源操作系统。但是Rubin在本质上是一个发明家，他发明了机器人、软件代理、新型硬件设备。在Playground，Rubin和他的工作团队正在建设一种新型工厂——在拐角处提前建一个世界，然后创造能在这个世界中蓬勃发展的产品和公司。

▲图：Playground的一个机械车间

Rubin带我参观了Playground目前的工作场所——空间小一点，旁边就是一个正在建设中的Playground新建筑的展示模型。他对Playground里的公司了如指掌。Playground里有一部分公司是用创业基金投资的（它从Google、HP和其它公司筹集了3亿美元），有一部分公司是孵化项目（它投资了14个公司，以后还有更多此类投资，其中七个公司的办公场所就在Playground的总部），还有一部分公司是全方位服务设计及快速原型工作室。Playground所投资的公司可自由使用经验丰富的程序员、工业设计师、价值数百万美元的电脑车床和3D打印机。实际上，他们创造新产品和创办新公司时可能会需要的一切资源，这里差不多都有。

这就引出了一个问题：究竟是什么样的宏伟目标能将这些公司维系在一起?《Wired》杂志上的文章尝试进行分析，它认为Rubin的新目标是创建一个AI驱动的新计算平台——的确，Rubin创建Playground的背景是这样的，他告诉我，差不多每隔12年左右就会出现一种新的计算平台。20世纪70年代出现了命令行，80年代出现了图形用户界面，90年代出现了网络，21世纪初期出现了移动互联网。大家都在密切关注下一个计算平台是什么，《Wired》杂志认为是人工智能服务，但是我不确定这种说法是否全面。

Rubin告诉我，他的愿望不是实现这个计算平台。他知道，若自上而下来实施如此复杂的生态系统必定会失败。他的愿望是，在人工智能服务出现之前先做好准备——正确的地方，正确的时间，有适当的公司、团队和基础设施。几乎每个大科技公司都在人工智能服务上投入了庞大资源。Rubin想做的是创建一些公司，等到人工智能服务出现的时候，这些公司已经具备一定的规模了。

Rubin 投资的那些公司将数字技术和模拟技术结合起来——将数字世界的魔力渗透进现实世界，再将现实世界的魔力反馈回数字世界。我们使用这种综合技术可以操控的事物越多，就越接近“现实化的互联网”——有了它，不仅可以计算整个世界，而且可以操控整个世界——将互联网与实体相结合，我们似乎有了控制世界的魔法。

Rubin提醒我，VisiCalc是第一款电子表格应用程序，VisiCalc在Apple II上成功要比MS-DOS和GUI平台的发展早很长时间。一旦这些平台具备了规模，电子表格就成为一个庞大的产业，它孵化出许多大公司，如微软和Lotus（不管怎样，起码在一段时期内是这样的）。在某种程度上，Playground的目标就是为不断发展的人工智能和物联网创造出VisiCalcs这样的产品。

使用可计算的数据和流程来操控实体世界，正是这个需求将Rubin投资的各个公司紧密结合在一起。Playground内的大部分公司都生产实体设备——可以控制现实世界的硬件，通过数据、传感器、处理能力来进行控制。换句话说，Rubin投资的那些公司将数字技术和模拟技术结合起来——将数字世界的魔力渗透进现实世界，再将现实世界的魔力反馈回数字世界。我们用这种综合技术可操控的事物越多，就越接近“现实化的互联网”——有了它，不仅可以计算整个世界，而且可以控制整个世界——将互联网与实体世界相结合，我们似乎有了控制世界的魔法。（毕竟Robin是General Magic公司早期的工程师）。

根据我们目前对网络的理解，网络是由无数个数字对象所构成——网页、数据库、应用程序，诸如此类。谷歌创建了一个可以索引所有数据的平台，并且提供了一种浏览这些索引的方法，因而谷歌公司发展成为互联网行业的龙头。然后谷歌又创造了一些应用程序来利用这些数据——地图、Finance，等等。

但是谷歌只有数字对象的数据。Rubin将现实世界的所有物体都当成数据，有待于被提取、索引、处理、理解和操控。“互联网目前是一个装在罐子里的大脑，”他解释道：“但是整个现实世界却在这个罐子外面。”Rubin的任务就是创造产品和公司将罐子内外联系起来。Rubin是这样解释的：从现实世界中提取数据，在云盘中处理这些数据，然后再采取措施控制实体世界。

那么解决方案究竟是什么样子的呢? Rubin带我参观了Playground里的几个新公司，但是我不能在这里介绍。我只能介绍很少几家公司，比如pHin，它是一个扔在游泳池或浴缸里的小装置。它有什么用呢?它能从游泳池的水中提取数据，然后将数据发送到pHin公司总部，在那儿分析游泳池水的化学成份，判断游泳池还需要哪些化学物质，然后将这些化学物质定制成一个“洗衣丸”。只要把“洗衣丸”扔进水里，就能将水的PH值调整到完美状态。你不知道你家的游泳池在Actuated Internet上还是一个可计算的对象吧?

还有一个例子：uAvionix是工程传奇Paul Beard创办的一家公司.Paul是一个发明家，他名下的专利不胜枚举（比如，其中一个是制造DVR的专利）。

▲uAvionix Ping

uAvionix利用美国联邦航空局使用的硬件和流程来定位空中的飞机，并与之进行联系。原来的系统是一个复杂的老式系统，需要安装一个8磅重的雷达应答器，uAvionix将其缩小成一个8克重的装置，叫做Ping（如上图）。他为什么要这么做?这样一来每架飞机上都可以安装一个Ping。它不仅能够解决近期发生的无人机撞上客机的事，而且能够创造一个“无人机互联网”——用来识别、控制并最终协调空中、地面的所有飞行物（当然上面还有习机的有效载荷、历史位置记录、所有者等信息）。如果我们想让无人机穿梭各地为我们送货，我们就需要在它们内部安装上互联网，对不对?

Playground还投资了一个公司叫CastAR，这是一家隐秘的增强现实公司，它能使用眼镜（对，就像是谷歌眼镜）在现实世界的表面描画高度逼真的三维视觉效果（通常与空间里的Magic Leap、Oculus及其他设备集成在一起）。他还为我演示了CastAR技术和几款游戏程序。虽然游戏案例也令人兴奋，可一旦将其小型化并与强大的人工智能平台相连，这才是该技术真正激动人心的最终效果。我认为增强现实技术要比纯粹的虚拟现实（Oculus的范围）难度更高，功能也更强大。CastAR的定位不仅要用简单的应用程序（沉浸式游戏VisiCalc）取得初步成功，而且一旦市场成熟了，它还要成为运行一切增强现实产品的标准平台（增强现实的微软）。

Playground的其他投资还包括深度学习基础设施、健康分析应用软件、智能Wifi设备等等。Rubin才刚刚起步，等到夏天，他把那栋杏黄色的前罐头厂完全重建好了，能够创建更多的公司、创意和产品。毕竟Robin有几亿美元的资金，而且肯定还会有更多的资金。一旦Playground有了起色，Rubin计划开放源代码，使整个生态系统都建立在现实化的互联网之上。

如果一个基于人工智能控制的强大的互联网能够成为现实，我们应该感到欣慰。这个互联网将与实体世界紧密结合，我们还须仔细思考它的核心理念。这样的互联网很容易被垄断，紧紧控制在少数几个公司的手中。但是还有一个更好的选择。它也可以是散乱的、强健的、开源的，就像当初基于HTML的网络那样，或是像Robin的安卓操作系统那样。我们支持开源——并且让我们很高兴的是Rubin也支持开源。