Pete Hartwell

Directing HP Labs Central Nervous System for the Earth project, Peter Hartwell is building a planetwide sensing network using billions of tiny, cheap, tough and exquisitely sensitive detectors. Hartwell envisions sensing nodes about the size of a pushpin stuck to bridges and buildings to warn of structural strains or weather conditions. They might be scattered along roadsides to monitor traffic, weather and road conditions. Embedded in everyday electronics, CeNSE nodes might track hospital equipment, sniff out pesticides and pathogens in food, or even “recognize” the person using them and adapt.