3-D adds depth to teleconferencing

Thursday, 9 August 2007

Teleconferencing with holograms using the living-room TV may soon be as routine as using the phone, according to a local product developer working with the University of Alberta.

Research consortium TR Labs is working with the U of A computer science department to bring a different type of videoconferencing—tele-immersion, where people meet in a virtual space—to life.

David Antoniuk, the business development director of TR Labs, said it will give people a richer experience while getting in touch with others.
“You [will] see the person so life-like, they’re almost there,” he explained.

Tele-immersion is the next step from tele-presence, the state-of-the-art technology where people feel like they’re in the same room. Multiple screens and cameras are used, where people feel like they’re talking through windows that are actually TV screens.

Jacques-André Boulay, a PhD candidate in computer science, is working on combining tele-presence and tele-immersion, in a project named iTRANCE. The idea is to have a system where people around the world can feel as if they’re in the same room to view and discuss holograms of models in real time.

“The main objective is to create … the illusion of being there together,” said Boulay. “It gives you the impression you’re in another world because everything is in 3-D.”

Combining the two technologies involves placing the hologram spots either in front of the TV screens, or at an angle between the room’s chairs and the screens. However, the TV screens used will be different from the ones already on the market: they will project a 3-D holographic image when viewed a from certain angle.
In applying the technology to business, Boulay said it can be used in product development. For example, he said, “many people from different sides [of a company] can meet and speak together about the design of a car,” adding that this virtual car could even be taken apart to look at its pieces.

The new 3-D TVs to be used in Boulay’s project also bring the opportunity to allow teleconferencing through people’s living rooms. Antoniuk said that answering a TV teleconference call will be like using a phone.

“You [won’t] pick up the hand set anymore. You’ll pick up the remote control, and then … you could see [the caller] in life size,” he said. “The idea is that you can bring life-size video conferencing to the home, and that’s what our goal is.”

Antoniuk stated that combining the technologies has potential in training medical students, to name one of many possibilities. “They could be anywhere in the world via videoconferencing, looking at the operation as if they were there.”

Boulay also notes the potential in undergraduate classes that use complex diagrams or schematics.

“Some concepts can be hard to understand because most of the time, you look at the manual, and the drawings are in 2-D,” Boulay explained. “If you could see this stuff in 3-D, it could be easier to learn.”

With the growing public attention tele-immersion has received, many have compared it to the Holodeck on the TV show Star Trek, where crew members could enter holographic computer-simulated environments.

Antoniuk downplays the comparison, but notes that this is the “next-generation” of communicating.

“Visualization is going to be the next big wave of technology; it will give [users] a richer experience.”

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