In the primary-ever spherical of Google Focused Research Awards, Professor Andy Hopper, Head of the Computer Laboratory, has been offered funding toward Computing for the Future of the Planet, a research programme that has set its sights on what computing can do for the surroundings.
Computing has had an substantial effect on the way we stay and paintings, and a natural extension is to harness its energy to remedy problems dealing with the planet, whether it’s electricity intake, pollution, congestion or sustainable dwelling.
Explaining the ethos at the back of the research he leads, Professor Hopper stated: ‘Computing has had an huge impact at the way we live and work, and a herbal extension is to harness its strength to clear up issues facing the planet, whether it’s strength intake, pollutants, congestion or sustainable dwelling. Over the past 5 years, we’ve got advanced a sturdy interdisciplinary imaginative and prescient of a computer-primarily based framework that will improve the way we live, and have been building and testing the deep-engineering technology needed to reap it.’
Computing for the Future of the Planet has several goals: an most advantageous digital infrastructure, sensing and optimising with a international world model, reliably predicting and reacting to our surroundings, and virtual options to bodily activities.
One research place under investigation is a non-public strength meter that would allow individuals to calculate their strength use in real-time. Pulling statistics together from a ramification of sources, the meter could calculate no longer handiest the strength getting used without delay via the user but also the shared energy use of, for example, the homes they work in, public shipping or even country wide overheads like healthcare.
Google has awarded a total of $five.7 million to thirteen tasks via their current Research Awards scheme, with Cambridge being the best organization outdoor the USA to win investment. ‘Refreshingly, the gift from Google places no regulations at the funded studies,’ stated Professor Hopper. ‘The nature of the award is honestly to stimulate and accelerate the improvement of recent ideas and realistic solutions in these progressive areas.’
