The mission of this program is to enable effective use and broad adoption of the Internet of Things by making it as easy to discover and interact with connected devices as it is to find and use information on the open web. The resulting open ecosystem should facilitate usability, ensure privacy and security, and above all guarantee interoperability.

Harrison says he can’t discuss any specific plans Google might have to commercialize the super sensor research. But there are some pretty obvious potential avenues for the company to plug something like this into its own product portfolio — say by using its Google Home voice-driven AI speaker as the central in-home interface that’s being fed intelligence by a system of super sensors. The homeowner would then be in a position to be informed of and ask about domestic goings on via that central IoT device.