In your hometown, you can glance at a building or landmark to orient yourself. A new computer system uses artificial intelligence to do much the same thing. Called VPS 2.0, it’s a type of visual positioning system. It lets machines “look through a camera and know exactly where they are,” explains Brian McClendon. This system went global in April.
And if you’ve played Pokémon Go, you might have helped make it possible.
McClendon led the team that developed VPS 2.0 for Niantic Spatial, based in San Francisco, Calif.
In some cities, delivery robots will use VPS 2.0 to bring pizza or groceries to someone’s door. “We’re really excited [for the new system],” says George O’Brien. He leads product development at Coco Robotics, also based in San Francisco.
Robots delivering pizza sounds fun, says Kathleen Tuite, who does not work with either company. But she worries about our privacy. A system like this “could probably figure out where you are from certain kinds of photos,” she points out. Tuite is a software developer at ODK. This company, based in San Diego, Calif., helps make tools people can use to collect data.
Since VPS 2.0 only works live, there’s no way to put someone’s photos in...
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