Quantum computer Google qCraft will teach gamers to science

In the laboratory, Google came up with an original way to interest children in exploring the future of quantum computers and developed a software package that introduces a number of concepts from quantum physics into the Minecraft computer game that is now popular among many gamers, including children.

Today, quantum computers by and large remain in the discharge of hypothetical devices, for the proper development of which scientists still have a lot to do.

However, limited quantum computers (up to 512 qubits) have already been built. According to research, they cope with their tasks 3600 times faster than a regular computer.

The manufacturer of quantum processors "Vesuvius" is a Canadian company D-Wave, whose products have already been acquired by Lockheed Martin and the US space agency NASA together with Google.

But even despite the certain successful results obtained by scientists in recent years, fully working computer systems of such an architecture will not appear very soon.

However, companies that even have such “inefficient” computers are already looking for practical applications for them.

So, at the beginning of the year, Lockheed Martin launched a unique project “Qcloud” - the first quantum computer connected to the Internet that anyone can access.

“A quantum computer can perform some types of calculations much faster than ordinary computers. But, like a regular computer, it also needs to be programmed. Despite the development of quantum algorithms and a specialized programming language, there are now only a handful of qualified people in the world who are capable of this, ”says Jeremy O'Brien, a researcher from the University of Bristol, who works in the field of quantum computing.

The Qcloud computer is designed to implement cloud quantum computing technologies. Due to this, in the near future, according to the developers, anyone with the help of any web browser can connect to this computer and try to use the basic algorithms of quantum computing.

“Using our system, you can sit on the bus and use your mobile phone to experiment in quantum optics, which you probably have never done before,” says Peter Shadbolt, a member of the Bristol research team.

However, it is not yet clear why and how an ordinary person will be able to use quantum computing algorithms and the capabilities of a Qcloud quantum chip, whose capabilities, which have only two quantum bits, are also too limited.

"This chip can not calculate anything that a normal enough powerful computer could handle," says Jeremy O'Brien. “Our group is currently developing more complex quantum computing systems, which include 6 and 8 qubits. But we are glad that our older technology will find extremely useful applications, we hope that this will help to grow qualified specialists who will be able to cope with complex systems. ”

Google has found another use for its quantum computer, which launched the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab back in May of this year, also based on the D-Wave equipment.

The Google project aims at exploring the possibilities of quantum computer architecture and exploring space.

The laboratory has a quantum computer operating with 512 qubits. This computer was also engaged in quite practical work - the optimization of the Google Glass sensors responsible for recognizing human blinks. That is, this function, for example, allows you to take a photo without a voice command, just blinking.

However, for optimal performance of this system, as reported by ixbt.com, it is necessary to eliminate false positives in case the system takes the normal natural blinks of a person as a command.

Now, Google has decided to go even further in terms of popularizing the direction of the development of quantum computer engineering, reports slate.com.

Here's what Google lab representatives say about their project:
“Millions of children spend many hours playing Minecraft, which now will aim not only to dig caves and fight monsters, but to create assembly lines, spaceships and programmable computers. It is necessary to use everything in the name of experiments and discoveries, ”say the developers.

Having thought about how to attract the attention of smart and creative children to the enthusiastic study of quantum physics, Google representatives came up with the following idea together with their partners at Caltech Institute's Caltech Institute: it was decided to call the software package Minecraft ModPack “qCraft”. It will be built into the game and allow players to experiment as the author at the quantum level with the behavior of the world inside the game: to influence the new blocks at the smallest level, to change the structure and to observe the dependence of such changes in their larger consequences.

In the context of the game, this obviously means that the player can build, for example, a modest hut, which after its smallest changes at the quantum level turns into a stone castle. Or when it depends on a player’s decision whether, say, a staircase appears in one place or another, which can absolutely happen to be there at any time.

Also, players can organize pairs of quantum computers and teleport things to complicate quantum entanglement.

"It is better to put more ice next to the child playing this game so that he, being carried away, does not“ boil ”by chance,” the developers joke.

Although Google itself admits that this is not the actual application of quantum physics in practice. However, this is one of the ways to attract attention to the study of this section of science, albeit in a too simplified form.

However, according to Google, this will help children transfer the analogy to some of the common thought processes of life, broaden their horizons and possibly lay the potential for further study of quantum physics.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/technology/kvantovyj-kompyuter-google-qcraft-nauchit-gejmerov-naukam.html.