I’ve been at Google for seven years, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing people on projects like TensorFlow that I’m very proud of. I’ve been talking about all the wonderful TinyML things you can build using TensorFlow Lite Micro a lot over the last few years, and the time has finally come to start trying to build some of them myself! Much as I’d like to, it’s very costly and time-consuming to launch new hardware devices at Google, because the downsides of a failed or buggy launch to any large company’s reputation are so high. Instead, I’ve decided to go back to college after more than twenty years away, and work on a Computer Science PhD at Stanford.

I’ve enjoyed teaching EE292D there for the last couple of years, it’s been wonderful being able to draft off the students’ enthusiasm about the possibilities with these emerging technologies, and I’ve learned a lot from faculty like Zain Asgar, Sachin Katti, and Boris Murmann. I’m very pleased I’ll have a chance to spend more time on campus.

TensorFlow Lite Micro is in very good hands with Advait Jain and the rest of the team, usage and headcount has continued to grow over the last couple of years, so I’m very optimistic about its future. I’ll be publishing more details about my plans soon, along with some demos, but I’ll be using the framework myself to create some of the devices I’ve been dreaming about since the project started.

It’s going to be an interesting new adventure, I’m definitely going to be feeling a bit like Rodney Dangerfield in the classes I’m taking, but I want to thank everyone who’s supported me getting this far. If you want to get in touch, my Stanford home page has more details on how to reach me, I’m looking forward to learning, teaching, and researching in a whole new environment.