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Innovation

The Telepod: A 360-degree, life-sized teleconferencing system

A research team at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University has created a 360-degree display using Microsoft Kinect sensors, an acrylic cylinder and a 3D projector.
Written by Beth Carter, Contributing Editor

A research team at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Canada has created a 360-degree display using Microsoft Kinect sensors, an acrylic cylinder and a 3D projector. With just these components, they may have revolutionized the world of teleconferencing.

Led by professor Rowl Vertegaal at the Media Lab, the team developed the Telepod. With six Kinect sensors and the projector, the cylinder displays a 3D image of the person with whom you are teleconferencing, front to back. It's basically like speaking to a hologram.

Vertegaal and his team see a few applications of the technology to the real world. First, what they are calling Telehuman, is just regular teleconferencing. The second application, however, called the Bodipod, has the potential to really shake up the medical industry. The viewer of the Bodipod get's a "peelable" X-ray scan of the patient's body, meaning that if the resolution was high enough, a person in one city could receive a diagnosis or treatment from a doctor in another city or even continent.

This kind of technology has so much potential, it will be fun to see how (and if) this plays out. Here's the video demonstration of the project:

[Core 77]
Images and Video: Human Media Lab

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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