Hacking Our Way into The Future of IoT

— by Alok Batra

Last week, Stanford held TreeHacks, a national hackerthon attended by 600 brilliant college students from all over the country. Among other things, hackers worked on the smart city case created by Atomiton, so I had the opportunity to interact with them for an immersive 36 hours.

The predominate feeling I got from it:

Old…

That is not to mention that my team took a picture of me with the students, and posted with a tweet that I was the oldest hacker there.

This is not just about grey hair; it is about how we look at technology and life. I went with the mindset to see technology ideas such as in IoT, but these students showed their passion for a future that transcends the definition of “IoT”. What I saw instead was “life in the IoT age”.

No buzzwords

Among such a techno-maniac group, I was expecting to hear the hottest buzzwords of today’s tech world thrown around. Contrary to it, for 36 hours, from the students’ discussions, inquires, and presentations, I heard little use of phrases such as Big Data, IoT, Analytics, Mobility, Platform, Augmented Reality… In fact, speaking “IoT” almost made me feel old – the kids’ nonchalant responses seemed to be telling, “Uh, ok… so what?”

In their vocabulary, it is not “IoT”; it is the sensor-enabled exercise mat that knows what exercise you are doing. It is not “Big Data”; it is real time mobile reporting and visualization of Ebola cases worldwide. It is not “Augmented Reality”; it is being able to see and control your smart phone through a holographic experience.

Unassuming of anything, they have internalized technologies without dogmatizing them. I realize this is what we catchphrase-worshiping adults could learn from. 80% of us started talking about IoT without knowing what it is; many of us are still speaking “Big Data” where we misunderstand the meaning. Why? Because using buzzwords gives us legitimacy and appearance of knowledge in our companies and social circles, and we have learned that skill since our first job. Kids don’t care.

Two consequences of the Adult Word-Worshiping Syndrome:

1. Where the kids speak concrete, we speak abstract. Where they start from the tangible value of technology (even if as trivial as making their TV watching more fun), we start from the social value of conformance. Hence this phenomenon: in an organization where almost everyone is talking about doing “IoT”, no one still knows what do to about “IoT”.
2. Where the kids cross boundaries, we surrender to conceptual barriers. Using virtual reality interactions to draw up 3D printing models – wow! Where we would have assumed two entirely different categories, they have made them one experience in 36 hours. We adults are confined by our own language, and further limit ourselves by turning our language constructs into social fads.

The resurgence of hardware

I was surprised by the number of teams working on hardware related projects. Drones, robots, holographic goggles, ECG headsets, sensors are the coolest things to work on for these computer science majors. I wonder if the same hackerthon had been held 3 years ago, would there have been so many gadgets.

With my “old" mind, I have been telling the story of the decline of the hardware over the last 10 years. We saw IBM transformed into software and services, selling its PC and server businesses. We saw the decline of Dell, Compaq and HP. When I was at Cisco I said it had hit networking as well, so Cisco needs software and services (what my division did). At GE, as its software CTO, I preached that metals were becoming cheap. As software engineers we have been watching the hardware commoditization with a glee on our face: since software is going to “eat” hardware for lunch.

Now consider the top three winners of the hackerthon:

Third prize: sensors that can detect you falling asleep while you shouldn’t (driving, attending classes), and use your smart phone buzz to wake you up. But if you fall asleep watching TV, they may sensitively turn your lights off without waking you up.

Second prize: put on holograph goggles, use you hand and arm to create any shape in front of you, and send it for 3D printing.

First prize: a robotic arm that mimics your arm gestures by detecting your movements from sensors, in real time.

Hardware played essential role in all of them. In fact most creative and successful teams had both hardware and software members working together. I found this extremely encouraging. The hardware/software barriers we see entrenched in our organizations are not at play here among the youngest enthusiasts for technology. This promises us a future of the Internet of Things where software computing exists closely with, and within, many forms of hardware, not just the computers; where the virtual become integrally blended with the physical.

Instant “gratification”

We often complain that kids today have shorter and shorter attention spans. The effect is that any project that is not instantly intuitive or gratifying will lose the audience. As college kids this is only natural, as they try to create experience, not concepts.

Experience can be visual, where a globe lights up with mobile data coming in in real time. Experience can be physical, where a drone flies in synchronization with your arm movements. Experience can be social, where your movie program is synced with your friend’s movie on his TV. Experience can be all-immersive, where you “touch” and control your smart phone holographically.

I realize in this setting, if I had described a project where I collect “Big Data”, put into Hadoop, and derive insight from it, most people would have fallen asleep. If I had described connecting a thousand machines in a factory, and watch their health on a big dashboard, people would have fallen asleep as well.

While we adults are buzzing about the trendy, “new” technologies as the next big things, the kids have already assumed them as baseline. In their world, abundant data, APIs, cloud, all possible sensors, Raspberry Pi, connectivity and mobility are all taken as granted. Drones, robots, virtual reality are extended tools they can use to change the experience of life.

Whether we (old people) chase IoT, Big Data, or machine learning today now becomes less important. People around the world like these 20-year olds will blend all of them together, shed the names, disregard if it’s hardware or software, and create a different life experience where technology becomes ubiquitous, immersive, and invisible. That is the future I see here that Stanford TreeHacks.