FEMALE SPEAKER: So now we're going to shift, and we're
going to hear an amazing talk by a hardware lead at Google.
Jean Wang has a PhD in electrical
engineering in photonics.
She worked in the optical communications and
then came to Google.
She's the hardware lead on Google Glass.
As a board member, I have Google Glass.
I love it.
It's so much more natural than a phone.
And now you get to hear about how she did this.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
JEAN WANG: Hi, everybody.
Smile.
So I'm very happy to be here with you today.
I'd like to share with you my Glass journey.
It's a three-part story that spans across multiple domains.
And while it is yet unfinished, I hope you share
my enthusiasm for what is yet to come.
Before diving in, I'd actually like to float this number
briefly and plant it in your minds.
It has significance to me and the story, and in the
meantime, please feel free to question the number
base that I'm using.
So, Glass, like many ideas, started as a blank canvas.
As part of the initial team, we came into the project
largely inexperienced in the field of
head-mounted displays.
Instead, we had the ability to divide and conquer through our
ability to learn and adapt.
While some of us focused on optics, like myself, others
worked on cameras, sensor systems, electronics.
And so we also came in with the fundamental belief that
technology had ripened to the point where we can make a
significant impact and create something of significant use.
And that has led us into the discovery phase, to find out
just what it was that could be done to basically minimize the
barrier to information access, and to make us connect with
each other in terms of accessing our social sphere.
As part of the discovery process, we looked at existing
products in the mobile space and wanted to really
understand where it was that we can make an impact in terms
of form factor.
For example, whether it was bulky and had to fit into our
pocket or carry around a bag for it; ease of access,
whether we had to pull it out of our pocket or a bag to
actually engage with it; and also ease of use, whether we
were blocked when we were using the device, or whether
we could look straight ahead and talk with people and not
be distracted.
So to push on these pain points, we did a number of
technical experiments.
Here's a helmet-mounted display that did not allow us
to be hands free or wires free.
And in the bottom, you can see here, is an early optical
experiment to help us understand the technical
complexities in terms of how optics sizes actually impact
the performance and the image quality.
So with these considerations in mind, we dived into
selecting components that we could use to
make a viable solution.
So in the vast array of options, we looked at what it
was we could just reuse and customize.
Or was there something that we had to invent for ourselves?
So we played around with a bunch of pico projectors and
projectors.
We looked at optic components such as lenses and prisms as
well as interface devices--
touch pads, microphones, speakers.
And underpinning the whole system was electrical
components and board design.
So in this huge selection of choices and huge array of
options, how do we down-select?
And so we filtered using two key criteria.
One was power consumption, and a second was weight.
So these two are basically factors in enabling us to
first, wear a system all day, and second, actually allow us
to want to wear a system all day.
So we headed into the second phase of prototyping.
Here are six example generations of glass
prototypes.
Starting at the very top left, we took the lowest hanging
fruit of simply putting mobile phones to the side of the
head, and a pico projector shining directly into the eye
to provide the image.
And so this was a bit bulky, as you can imagine.
It came in at 167 grams.
And we wisely decided that we could lighten the load by
taking the mechanicals off the phone.
And that's our second proto shown right up there in the
middle top.
And so as you can see, over time, we shifted from using
off-the-shelf components, such as safety shields and frames,
into 3D printing our own frame.
And that's shown here in the third.
And you can also see that we migrated into making our own
optical design and architecture, which is
something we carry through today.
And as you gradually evolve to the very end, you see that
more and more we use customized components.
And we look at making our own plastics and metals to get to
where we are today, which is essentially the essence of
what Glass needs to be.
This provides the core, and provides a very minimalistic
system, that allows us to run around and be happy when we're
playing with the system.
And in addition to prototyping with the hardware, Glass
derives its use from easy to follow UI.
And this is by definition actually easy to make.
Along the way, we experimented with a number of different
interaction concepts, for example, head gestures.
And that recent SNL skit was not too far from our previous
truth, if you've seen it.
Also, we experimented with porting the keyword
functionality to the touchpad.
But we found that was a bit too complex, even when running
in a predictive word mode.
We also tuned the number of lines of text--
the font, the size--
to basically optimize for readability.
So through all of these things, we found that
minimalizing and stripping down to the very core allowed
for the best use case and experience.
We also found that minor head tilts and voice commands
allowed us for hands-free experience, which is very
important when we're busy dancing or
riding that roller coaster.
On the flip side, having the touchpad and the camera button
allowed us for more quiet modes of interaction.
So with the hardware and software solutions converging
into a viable state, the team actually turned to the
question of production.
It is possible to manually tweak and baby one device, to
get it to be close to ideal in terms of cosmetics and
functionality.
However, we'd like to share Glass more broadly.
And so that, to us, quickly turns into
the question of scale.
How do we build not 1, 1,000, 100,000, but upward towards a
googol of devices?
Layering in automation is key to this.
And that means that not only do we have to build Glass
itself, but we have to build
infrastructure that builds Glass--
this floor space, the equipment, the
whole kit and caboodle.
And to add a bit more complexity, we'd like to honor
individuality and human preferences.
And that to us, has meant color options, and that leads
to color complexity.
How do we make sure that on the device itself, part to
part, the colors match?
And how do we make sure that between
devices the colors match?
So production requires the solutions to all of these
questions and beyond.
Through these three phases of discovery, prototyping, and
production, I have found that Glass is both an innovation
and a reinvention.
By integrating highly compact and new components, we've been
able to extend far beyond nickel head-mounted displays,
beyond the last couple decades of individualized movie
players, game consoles, and aircraft systems.
On other hand, I think that Glass is a way in which we can
examine and develop new fields that we can push beyond and
learn to be better connected to each other as well as share
perspective and have access to information.
And all of this will allow us to better empathize as people
and sympathize.
So coming back to that number at the very beginning.
It's been exactly, as of today, 1,111
days since I joined.
And this is a picture I would not be able to
take without Glass.
I am paragliding over Coronet Peak, New Zealand.
And just by looking at it, I can recall what it was like to
soar with the birds and to take in the
beauty of the landscape.
I have often been asked what the a-ha moments have been in
the project thus far.
And while I have a few, I am more excited about
what is yet to come.
There is a first tier, for example, a bar code, QR code
scans, where we can get just-in-time reviews of
movies, books, that menu trace we're just about to take, but
we're not quite sure yet.
Then there's also never getting lost and not bumping
into things while you're looking at directions.
And then there's a whole other level.
Recently one of my colleagues exchanged his wedding vows
while wearing the device.
And I get goose bumps when I imagine him reliving that when
he is old and gray and seeing the reflection of a future
from his wife's eyes.
And then there's also a physics instructor who
recently toured CERN with the device.
And he did a Hangout back to his classroom in Michigan.
And he was riding his bike down the tunnel of the Large
Hadron Collider showing his classroom just how cool it
was, while taking live questions on the spot.
Then there's also another example where Glass can mean
life or death, that it can help you translate to a
medical doctor in a foreign country that you're allergic
to penicillin.
So through this process, I think that there's just so
much potential in what is yet to come, that in pushing
towards a new perspective on information sharing and
perspective sharing, we've come upon a new environment
Glass can engender.
And when I have time to pause and think about how far we've
come, I feel privileged to be part of such a dynamic team.
Together we're striving forth to bring forward this new
perspective.
And I count you, as developers, as part of this
growing group.
There's just so much potential and positive impact in keeping
in the moment, where information is just at your
fingertips and knowledge is a twinkle in your eye.
And with that I look forward to your aha moments, and we
are back to discovery.
[APPLAUSE]
JEAN WANG: Thanks everyone.