What a nice name that is, holoportation : a literal association of holograms and teleportation. Under this exciting term is one of the latest projects of Microsoft research, which illustrates how augmented reality may become a major breakthrough in our technological environment.

 

 

Simply put, Microsoft project enables real-time communication of 3D modelized objects.  On the emission room, (multiple) dedicated cameras are used to gather point of views that can be melded into a 3D modelization of the scene. A specific real-time compression approach has been developed, enabling the sharing of captured scenes over the Internet or their storing for later visualization. On the reception room, the viewing relies on a mixed reality display (Hololens in that case) to comprehend the scene in all its dimensions. In particular, the receiver can move in and around the recorded scene ! And when both sides are equipped with both dedicated recorders and Hololens, they can actually communicate in 3D…

Here is the Microsoft video that illustrates the main goals and achievements of the project. From an hardware perspective, the solution may appear hardly practicable for now, but still, the result is worth it ! And obviously, the required toolkit will rapidly shrink…  Until it fits into a smartphone ? Well, we might not be there yet. But holograms are now around us – not everywhere, but they are here – like ghosts that can be seen only under the correct light, with a dedicated equipment… A whole new simulated world is growing !

To go a little bit further into the perspectives for our near future, I gladly recommend you to watch this recent Ted Talk of Kinect creator Alex Kipman discussing how holograms and augmented reality can be tightly linked to the  our –true– reality.