The leak of Google’s Wolverine Project could give you superpowers

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a really advanced device coming from Google, along the lines of Project Ara or Google Glass. A new leak from Division X of Google’s (technical) parent company, Alphabet, certainly qualifies. According to the unconfirmed report, the “Project Wolverine” is a device that allows the user to isolate the audio to focus on a specific person or source.

The details are clear, although Business Insider reports that the technology has been in development since before 2018. The application is obvious: many people have difficulty hearing a person in the crowd, not to mention those whose hearing is physically impaired. (Yes, the project is named after the super auditory ability of X-MenWolverine – there is no indication that it will heal wounds instantly or give you incredible metal claws.)

The device has features other than speech isolation, and the X team is actively working on expanding its usefulness, but these applications have not been detailed. Business Insider claims several anonymous sources and that an X spokesman confirmed that it is “exploring the future of the audience”, although the company declined to comment on any details.

According to the leak, Wolverine technology has gone through several form factors to accommodate the challenging physics of multiple microphones. Part of its initial hardware was filled with sensors that “covered the entire side of the ear”. Naturally, it would need to be miniaturized or applied in conjunction with other hardware, such as a phone or tablet, to be a viable commercial product.

BI reports that the continued existence of the Wolverine Project is by no means guaranteed: it still needs to demonstrate that it can be applied to retail or industrial hardware. I would hardly be the first of Google’s “Moonshots” to fail. But it is operational enough to give a demonstration to people like Astro Teller, the head of Division X, and Sergey Brin. Whether we will really see this technology in any type of shipping product, nobody knows.

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