Google announced a new research project Thursday aimed at bringing 3D technology to smartphones, for potential applications such as indoor mapping, gaming and helping blind people navigate.<\/p>\n
The California tech giant said its “Project Tango” would provide prototypes of its new smartphone to outside developers to encourage the writing of new applications.<\/p>\n
Project leader Johnny Lee said the goal of the project, which incorporates robotics and vision-processing technology, is “to give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion.”<\/p>\n
“What if you could capture the dimensions of your home simply by walking around with your phone before you went furniture shopping?” Google said on its Project Tango web page.<\/p>\n
“What if directions to a new location didn’t stop at the street address? What if you never again found yourself lost in a new building? What if the visually impaired could navigate unassisted in unfamiliar indoor places? What if you could search for a product and see where the exact shelf is located in a super-store?”<\/p>\n
The technology could also be used for “playing hide-and-seek in your house with your favorite game character, or transforming the hallways into a tree-lined path.”<\/p>\n
Smartphones are equipped with sensors which make over 1.4 million measurements per second, updating the positon and rotation of the phone.<\/p>\n
Partners in the project include researchers from the University of Minnesota, George Washington University, German tech firm Bosch and the Open Source Robotics Foundation, among others.<\/p>\n
Another partner is California-based Movidius, which makes vision-processor technology for mobile and portable devices and will provide the processor platform.<\/p>\n
Movidius said in a statement the goal was “to mirror human vision with a newfound level of depth, clarity and realism on mobile and portable connected devices.”<\/p>\n
“Google has paved the future direction for smart mobile vision systems and we’re excited to be working with a company that shares our vision to usher in the next wave of applications that fundamentally alter how a mobile device is used to experience the world around us,” said Remi El-Ouazzane, chief executive of Movidius.<\/p>\n
“Project Tango is truly a groundbreaking platform and we look forward to seeing the innovation the developer community achieves,” he added.<\/p>\n
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