Google has just acquired DNNresearch, a technology start-up from the Computer Science department at the University of Toronto responsible for researching speech and object recognition software.
DNNresearhc specialises in object and speech recognition and was incorporated by the University of Toronto just last year. The software they are currently researching could mean Google’s augmented reality Google Glass technology could integrate capabilities to search for specific objects or faces.
At SXSW, Google showed off the InSight app as part of a showcase of a new host of Google Glass features. The app is capable of identifying people by the clothes they’re wearing, but the software has obvious limitations, in that it wouldn’t recognise them if they changed outfits.
The DDNresearch research could mean that Google Glass is capable of recognising speech, objects and faces within its memory. The company’s research “has profound implications for areas such as speech recognition, computer vision and language understanding.”
Google’s acquisition of the company means that the company’s founder, Geoffrey Hinton and two of his graduate students will now be moving to work for Google.
“Geoffrey Hinton’s research is a magnificent example of disruptive innovation with roots in basic research,” said the University of Toronto’s president David Naylor. “The discoveries of brilliant researchers, guided freely by their expertise, curiosity and intuition, lead eventually to practical applications no one could have imagined, much less requisitioned.”
Having previously donated $600,000 (£402,171) to DNNresearch, Google has been eyeing up the start-up company for quite a while.
“Last summer, I spent several months working with Google’s Knowledge team in Mountain View, working with Jeff Dean and an incredible group of scientists and engineers who have a real shot at making spectacular progress in machine learning,” said Hinton.
“I am betting on Google’s team to be the epicentre of future breakthroughs.”
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Via: TechCrunch
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