"Why
Skype when you can talk to a life-size 3D holographic image of another
person," asks professor Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab
at the Queen's University, Canada, and the project leader.
The
technology developed by Vertegaal and his team is called TeleHuman and
looks like something from the Star Trek holodeck, according to a Queen's
statement.
Two
people simply stand in front of their own life-size cylindrical pods
and can talk to a 3D hologram-like images of each other. Cameras capture
and track 3D video and convert into the life-size image. Since the 3D
video image is visible 360 degrees around the pod, the person can walk
around it to see the other person's side or back.
While
the technology may seem like it comes from a galaxy far, far away, it's
not as complicated as most would think. Vertegaal and his team used
mostly existing hardware - including a 3D projector, a 1.8 metre-tall
translucent acrylic cylinder and a convex mirror.
The
researchers used the same pod to create another application called
BodiPod, which presents an interactive 3D anatomy model of the human
body. The model can be explored 360 degrees around the model through
gestures and speech interactions.
When
people approach the pod, they can wave in thin air to peel off layers
of tissue. In X-ray mode, as users get closer to the Pod they can see
deeper into the anatomy, revealing the model's muscles, organs and bone
structure.
Voice commands such as "show brain" or "show heart" will automatically zoom into a 3D model of a brain or heart.
Vertegaal
unveiled TeleHuman and BodiPod at CHI 2012, the ongoing premier
international conference on human-computer interaction, in Austin,
Texas, US.
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web