People love being together and in the highly connected world of today:
keeping in touch has never been simpler.
With mobile phones at hand, video messaging has enabled relationships to overcome the hurdles that long distance used to impose on our hearts.
In the pandemic Zoom conferences enabled us to work from home and meet groups of people in order to socialize on screen.
Yet, when all is said and done, although a video call can go far in communicating and getting things done, it is still far from being as satisfying as a face-to-face meeting. Wouldn’t it be amazing if technology could be used to create the feeling of being in the same place as someone else?During the past couple of years Google has looked at this important and unsolved problem and developed Project Starline which is a technology project that combines advances in hardware and software to enable friends, families, and coworkers to feel that they are together, even when they’re cities (or countries) apart.
By looking through a sort of magic window, and through that window, you are able to see another person, life-size and in three dimensions. You can talk naturally, gesture and make eye contact.
To make this experience possible, Google applied research in computer vision, machine learning, spatial audio and real-time compression. They have also developed a breakthrough light field display system that creates a sense of volume and depth that can be experienced without the need for additional paraphenilia such as glasses or headsets.
The effect is the sense of a person sitting just across from you, as if they are right there.
Project Starline currently relies on custom-built hardware and highly specialized equipment so it is very far from being a product ready for the market just yet.
It seems a few more decades are needed to make this technology available for us although some select companies have been contacted and are equipping their offices with this technology..
We feel that this is the way forward in everyday communication and look forward to be able to actually use Starline with loved ones and colleagues alike.
