不再只做芯片！英特尔在年度开发者大会上展示五件酷产品

在上周的年度开发者大会上，英特尔展示了软件厂商如何利用它的技术打造产品。公司也借此表明自己正在向核心计算机芯片业务以外的领域扩张。受个人电脑市场滑坡影响，英特尔的芯片业务依然增长缓慢。

英特尔以及伙伴公司在旧金山Moscone会展中心展示的东西并不会都变成真正可供出售的产品。但这些展品包含的思路确实表明英特尔意欲在如今快速变化的科技市场保持竞争力。

以下是《财富》杂志在本次会议上看到的五件有意思的展品。

1.英特尔新推出的虚拟现实头盔

为了不被谷歌、Facebook以及中国台湾智能手机厂商宏达电子甩在身后，英特尔推出了自己的虚拟现实项目Project Alloy。和谷歌的Project Daydream虚拟现实项目类似，英特尔自行设计了这款产品，并计划在2017年将设计图公诸于众，以便其他制造商进行生产。

英特尔首席执行官科再奇说，该头盔“功能齐全”，使用时无需和计算机或智能手机相连，也不必连接任何线路。

Its annual developer conference this week is a showcase for how coders can build products using Intel technology. It’s also a way for Intel to show that it’s branching from its core computer chip business, which continues to sputter because of the declining personal computer market.

Not everything that Intel  or partner companies showed on the floor of San Francisco’s Moscone convention center will eventually become an actual product to sell. But the ideas do indicate Intel’s attempt to stay competitive in today’s rapidly changing technology market.

Here are five interesting things Fortune saw on the conference floor:

1.Intel’s new virtual reality headset

Not to be outdone by Google ,Facebook , or Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC, Intel unveiled its own virtual reality initiative, Project Alloy. Similar to Google’s Project Daydream VR project, Intel designed its own virtual reality headset, the blueprints for which it plans to make publicly available in 2017 so that other manufacturers can build the device.

Intel CEO Bryan Krzanich described the headset as “completely contained” and with no requirement that it be used in conjunction with a computer or smartphone or with any attached wires.

科再奇和另一位英特尔高管夸赞了这款头盔采用的英特尔RealSense摄像头技术，它可以追踪人周围的实际环境，甚至能在虚拟世界中显示人的双手。显然，英特尔希望推广这项技术，而途径之一就是说服虚拟现实头盔制造商把RealSense技术用于底层硬件。

2.可充当计算机的虚拟现实背心

英特尔正在实施的一个虚拟现实项目打算找到一种方法，以便在不连接台式机的情况下使用Facebook Oculus Rift等现有虚拟现实头盔。英特尔展示了一款后背上嵌入了英特尔芯片的背心，可以和虚拟现实头盔配合使用。

英特尔工程经理罗希特·考拉利亚介绍，这款背心配备的电池可供电一个半小时，它采用的设计可避免芯片散发的热量对人体造成伤害。考拉利亚还解释说，英特尔制造这款背心的目的是展示基本设计，以便合作伙伴参考，进而推出类似产品。但英特尔不打算出售这款试验性原型产品。

穿着这件背心，我觉得自己好像是在牙科医院等着拍X光片。它很沉，像一件大号围裙。但由于没有连接任何线路，我觉得很自由。我可以转身并且四处走动，不存在被电线绊倒的危险

Krzanich and another Intel executive bragged about the Intel RealSense camera technology that’s embedded in the device for tracking a person’s surroundings in the real world; it can even show a person’s hands in a virtual world. Clearly, Intel wants to sell more of its RealSense technology, and one way it can do so is by convincing virtual reality headset makers to use the RealSense as the underlying hardware.

2.A computer vest for VR

One of the VR projects Intel is working on involves creating a way to use existing VR headsets like the Facebook Oculus Rift without needing to be tethered to a desktop computer. Intel showed off a vest with an Intel processor embedded on its backside that can be used to power VR headsets.

The vest, which contains a battery that can last an hour and a half, was designed to protect the human body from the heat generated by the processor, said Rohit Choraria, an Intel engineering manager. Intel built the vest so it can show partners a basic reference design for creating similar products, but the company has no plans to sell the experimental prototype, Choraria explained.

Wearing the vest, I felt like I was at a dentist appointment waiting to have my X-rays taken. It’s heavy and resembles an oversized bib. But not being tethered to any cable made me feel free, and I could turn and step around without risk of tripping over wires.

英特尔还在这款背心里安装了震动传感器。当我在虚拟现实游戏中和喘着粗气的暴龙相遇时，贴近胸部和腹部的传感器就会让背心轻轻震动，以模仿现实生活中接近巨大野兽时人体的感觉。

3. 可联网摩托车

一家名叫Bolt Motorbikes的初创型企业展示了它的混合动力摩托车和自行车。Bolt Motorbikes首席执行官乔希·拉斯姆森解释说，他们使用了英特尔子公司Wind River开发的技术，从而将自己的产品和互联网相连，这样骑行者就知道胎压是否不足以及车辆是否需要修理。

拉斯姆森说，Bolt Motorbikes的测试项目之一是利用Wind River的技术来防止车辆进入它们不应进入的地区。举例来说，如果有人偷了摩托车并且想把它开到城外去，摩托车就会减速甚至停下来。拉斯姆森指出，如果晚上“小家伙”未经允许就出去了，联网功能还可以通知他们的父母。

Intel also outfitted the vest with vibrating sensors, so when I played a virtual reality video game that put me face to face with a heavy-breathing Tyrannosaurs Rex, the embedded sensors near my chest and belly caused the vest to lightly vibrate, loosely mimicking the visceral feeling of actually being near a giant beast in real life.

3.Motorbikes that can connect to the Internet

A startup called Bolt Motorbikes showed off its battery-powered hybrid motorcycle and bicycle. It uses technology by Intel subsidiary Wind River that connects its hybrid bikes to the Internet so that riders know whether the tires are getting to low or if their bikes need to go to the repair shop, explained Bolt Motorbikes CEO Josh Rasmussen.

One of the things the startup is testing is the ability to use Wind River’s technology to prevent the bikes from driving in places they shouldn’t be, Rasmussen said. For example, if a thief steals a bike and tries to peddle out of the city, the bike would start to slow down and eventually stop. Rasmussen also said that the bike’s web connectivity allows parents to be notified if “junior goes out” for the night without permission.

4. 工厂机器间的连接设备

工业技术公司Exor Embedded制造了一个小型计算机模组，作用是把工厂中的设备连接起来，从而将所有的机器纳入一个系统之中。

该公司展示了一个汽车喷漆厂模型，其中的传送带都联了网，并且有一个数字化显示屏来帮助操作者追踪所有机器之间的信息流。

4. How to connect factory machinery together

Industrial technology company Exor Embedded built a small computer module for connecting factory equipment so all of a facility’s machinery can be viewed as one big system.

The company showed off a model of a car painting factory where conveyor belts are hooked to the Internet while a digital panel helps its operators track the data flowing back and forth from all the machinery.

5. 库存跟踪机器人

Simbe Robotics展示了它的一款机器人，后者可以在商店里巡视，扫描洗发香波或香皂等物品，进而发现是否需要补充库存或者商品是否贴错了标签。首席技术官米尔扎·阿克巴·沙阿解释说，这家初创公司最近开始用英特尔的RealSense摄像头技术为自己的机器人进行室内导航，以防它们撞人。

5.Robot inventory trackers

Simbe Robotics showed off one of the company’s robots that can cruise down store aisles, scan for items like shampoo or soap, and track whether or not inventory needs to be replaced or is mislabeled. The startup recently started to use Intel’s RealSense camera technology that helps its robots orient themselves in a room and prevents them bumping into people, explained chief technology officer Mirza Akbar Shah.

沙阿说，和其他机器人初创公司一样，Simbe Robotics也使用过PrimeSense的传感和追踪技术。但2013年苹果公司收购PrimeSense后，许多初创企业都无法继续使用此项技术。英特尔的RealSense则有可能取而代之。他没有谈及客户的情况。但据报道，今年4月份美国塔吉特百货公司曾在旧金山的一家商场里测试了Simbe Robotics的机器人。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：詹妮

Simbe Robotics, like other robotics startups, once used the sensing and tracking technology of a company called PrimeSense, Shah said. But when Apple bought that company in 2013, many of the startups reliant on PrimeSense’s no longer had the access to the technology. Intel’s RealSense is a possible replacement, Shah said. He declined to comment about the startup’s customers, but Target was reportedly testing the robot at one of its San Francisco stores in April.