Solve For X Event Tied To Google X, Google’s “Secret Robot Lab”

Google’s Richard DeVaul, who goes by the title, “Rapid Evaluator (mad scientist)” posted on Google+: The “solve for x” conference continues to be really interesting. Toda...
Solve For X Event Tied To Google X, Google’s “Secret Robot Lab”
Written by Chris Crum
  • Google’s Richard DeVaul, who goes by the title, “Rapid Evaluator (mad scientist)” posted on Google+:

    The “solve for x” conference continues to be really interesting. Today we have had talks on transforming education, 5x improvements in agriculture through better decision support, synthetic biology and carbon-negative biofuels.

    The “solve for x” YouTube channel and web site with all presentations will be up by Monday.

    Hat tip to 9to5Google, who provides a more detailed bio for DeVaul, which says he is a member of the “Google [x] Rapid Evaluation Team” and that “he works in a secret Google lab that may or may not be filled with roving robots, space elevators, and talking refrigerators.”

    You may recall back in November when reports came out about Google operating such a lab called “Google X”.

    In an earlier post, DeVaul, who used to work at Apple, described the event as a “fascinating, invite-only gathering of global innovators” driven by “short, technology rich presentations on topics ranging from low-energy, low-cost water desalinization to stretchable silicon biosensors.”

    The description on the Solve for X site says:

    Solve for X is a place where the curious can go to hear and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems. Radical in the sense that the solutions could help billions of people. Radical in the sense that the audaciousness of the proposals makes them sound like science fiction. And radical in the sense that there is some real technology breakthrough on the horizon to give us all hope that these ideas could really be brought to life.

    This combination of things – a huge problem to solve, a radical solution for solving it, and the breakthrough technology to make it happen – is the essence of a moonshot.

    Solve for X is intended to be a forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork.

    We can’t wait to share what we discover.

    The site is not actually open to the public yet, though you can give them your email address to be notified when it opens up.

    There’s a YouTube channel, but there’s only one video up so far:

    DeVaul says more videos will be up this afternoon.

    Following are some tweets from DeVaul:

    Greetings, twitterverse. Attending invite-only #solveforx conference. Big challenges, smart people, cool solutions. 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Lots of interesting ideas – low-energy desalinization, e-waste mining, crowd-sourced protein folding. #solveforx 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Hmm. Stretchable silicon structures for on- or in-body applications. Very cool. #solveforx 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    “a cow is not the most efficient transducer of solar energy to nutrition” #solveforx 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Is nutrition a production or a distribution problem? #solveforx 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Active electronics (sensors, display elements, rf comms) embedded in contact lenses. Wow. #solveforx 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Hmm. Reconstructing mental images from FMRI – at high resolution. Freaky. #solveforx 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Huh. Completely reengineering the public university as a “moonshot factory” – in AZ. #solveforx 3 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Cost of sequencing human genome dropped by 800x since 2007. #solveforx 2 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    What is the cost of not acting (to approve new medical processes/drugs) in lives and dollars? #solveforx 2 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Carbon _negative_ biofuels are now possible. Amazing. #solveforx 2 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Incredible – web-based synthetic biology compiler. DIY genetic engineering. #solveforx 2 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    A quad copter “matter net” for automated high-value package delivery. #solveforx 2 days ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Given all the talk about Google X and robots, this might be the most interesting one:

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