Star Trek Comes to Life: Life-size 3D Hologram [-like] Created by Queen’s University Researcher

Let’s be clear here, it’s hologram-like (journalists love writing sensational headlines, but they did get it right in the photo caption–or an editor did).

TheStar.com, out of Canada, reports that a Queen’s University researcher is hoping to revolutionize video-conferencing with a human-scale 3D pod that allows people in different locations to communicate as if they are standing in front of each other.

Described as Star Trek-like, the TeleHuman, a decade in the making by Roel Vertegaal, a professor in Human-Computer Interaction, and colleagues at Queen’s Human Media Lab, allows two people to stand in front of life-size cylindrical pods and talk to 3D hologram-like images of each other. Cameras that capture and track 3D video and then convert it into the life-size surround image is what make the process work.

Since the 3D video image is captured in 360 degrees, a person can walk around the pod to see the back or sides of the person they are talking to — unlike the current flat, one-dimensional screens utilized in Skype chats.

“We had a yoga instructor come out and present yoga poses on the display and had other people judge and copy them; with a display like this you can actually do that, whereas with traditional Skype conference you cannot,” said Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab.

Want to read more and see a picture (remember, it’s hologram-like), go to http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1172924–star-trek-comes-to-life-life-size-3d-hologram-created-by-queen-s-university-researcher

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