Benefiting from intelligence at the network edge

Paul Steinberg presides over a huge range of research and development activities, ranging from RF engineering and wireless network architectures to drones and robotics. He also manages Motorola Solutions Venture Capital’s portfolio and plays a key role in managing Motorola Solutions’ intellectual property.

One of the things the company is moving towards is a virtual partner – a combination of AI and natural language processing, which allows someone in the field to verbally request information and give commands without talking to a human. Part of the thinking behind this is that people speak faster than they can type, and the need for field workers to stay aware of their surroundings.

“The way you and I consume [mobile data] is a slab of black glass, [but the] fundamental imperative [for a police officer, etc] is eyes-up, hands-free. That slab of black glass [is] exactly the opposite: eyes-down, hands-busy. A big part of how we’re navigating this problem is around ethnographics and human factors research – living a day in the life of our users and then [working] with the technologists and designers.”