by Kevin Coupe
From here, it does not seem like an enormous leap to a Star Trek-style holodeck.
Bloomberg reports that Amazon this week "received two patents that outline a set of technologies that would project a digital world into someone’s room and let them navigate it by moving their bodies, or using some form of camera or headset to interact with it using virtual reality.
"One patent for 'object tracking in a 3-dimensional environment' would allow people to control devices through hand gestures that are monitored by cameras recognizing different parts of the hand. The technology attempts to solve the problem of tracking a user’s hand over time to control devices.
"The other patent for 'reflector-based depth mapping of a scene,' would use computer projections to transform a room into a virtual setting that responds to the user’s senses. The system would accomplish this with a single light source, differentiating it from existing technologies that rely on multiple light sources that have to be frequently re-calibrated, making them expensive, according to the patent."
What this tells us, I think, that the same mentality that drove Amazon to invest in drones and turn them from a tease/afterthought on "60 Minutes" into a delivery concept that has captured many people's imaginations and created no small amount of controversy, is focused on redefining the concept of interactivity.
It also tells me that I need to start checking Amazon on a regular basis to see if they are selling actual holodecks, or maybe food replicators.
Because, as Jean-Luc Picard would say, everything is impossible, until it is not.
It is, and will continue to be, an Eye-Opener.
From here, it does not seem like an enormous leap to a Star Trek-style holodeck.
Bloomberg reports that Amazon this week "received two patents that outline a set of technologies that would project a digital world into someone’s room and let them navigate it by moving their bodies, or using some form of camera or headset to interact with it using virtual reality.
"One patent for 'object tracking in a 3-dimensional environment' would allow people to control devices through hand gestures that are monitored by cameras recognizing different parts of the hand. The technology attempts to solve the problem of tracking a user’s hand over time to control devices.
"The other patent for 'reflector-based depth mapping of a scene,' would use computer projections to transform a room into a virtual setting that responds to the user’s senses. The system would accomplish this with a single light source, differentiating it from existing technologies that rely on multiple light sources that have to be frequently re-calibrated, making them expensive, according to the patent."
What this tells us, I think, that the same mentality that drove Amazon to invest in drones and turn them from a tease/afterthought on "60 Minutes" into a delivery concept that has captured many people's imaginations and created no small amount of controversy, is focused on redefining the concept of interactivity.
It also tells me that I need to start checking Amazon on a regular basis to see if they are selling actual holodecks, or maybe food replicators.
Because, as Jean-Luc Picard would say, everything is impossible, until it is not.
It is, and will continue to be, an Eye-Opener.
- KC's View:
