MIT Lab for CS Announces Creation of Oxygen Alliance

The MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) announced the formation of the Oxygen Alliance, a group of companies that will work with MIT researchers to advance and integrate the technologies of the $50 million, five-year Oxygen project. The companies, including Acer Group, Delta Electronics Inc, Hewlett Packard Company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Nokia Research Center, and Philips Research, will work with MIT researchers to create a new breed of pervasive, human centered computers devoted to serving people's needs.

Oxygen is an ambitious project involving some 250 researchers at LCS and its sister Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI). Its goal is to develop computer systems that cater to people, rather than the other way around. The project will bring an abundance of computation and communication to users through natural spoken and visual interfaces, making it easy for them to automate repetitive human tasks, find the information they need, and collaborate with others through space and time. It is believed that widespread use of Oxygen and its advanced technologies will yield a profound leap in human productivity that may be even more revolutionary than the move from mainframe computers to desktops.

The Oxygen Alliance will involve collaborative research between the Oxygen companies and MIT in several areas, including the creation of portable and stationary devices that can handle human speech and vision in limited contexts; new networking technologies for mobility and for controlling physical devices; the automation of repetitive tasks; individualized access to knowledge; and the development of new operating systems to support these technologies. In addition, the Alliance will involve personnel exchanges, joint workshops, and joint projects between each of the participating companies and MIT.

Michael Dertouzos, director of LCS, stated: "For 40 years makers and users of computers have been catering to what machines need. It's high time we turn our attention to what people want to do. We are delighted that, together with our partners in the Oxygen project, we can now go after the worthy goal of pervasive, human centered computing."

The MIT Oxygen project was initially launched in the Fall of 1999 with seed funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Oxygen Alliance may include one or two additional members in the future.

About the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science

Since its inception 37 years ago, the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) has been at the forefront of computer science. The hallmark of its research is a balanced blend between forefront technology and human utility. LCS members and alumni have been instrumental in the invention of the ARPANET, the Internet, Ethernet, the World Wide Web, time-shared computers, RSA encryption, and dozens of other technologies. Anyone who makes decisions using a spreadsheet, sends and receives e-mail, communicates with colleagues through a LAN, or surfs the Web is benefiting from the creative output of a present or former member of LCS. The Lab is currently home to the World Wide Web Consortium, an open forum of companies and organizations which strives to lead the Web to its full potential. www.lcs.mit.edu.

About the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

Since Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy formed the AI Lab in 1959, it has been a place where significant new tools and applications have been developed. The great strength of the AI Lab has been its willingness to put together large scale systems in ways that others have either not dared or for which they have not been able to marshal the required resources. The last few years have seen significant applications built on the AI Lab's robotics, vision, language, and circuit design technology. Most recently, the Lab has pioneered new methods for image guided surgery, wired the White House, made haptic interfaces a reality, produced new generations of micro displays, and changed the way NASA explores planets. www.ai.mit.edu.

Contact MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, Patti Richards, 617-253-8923, prichards@lcs.mit.edu