Google I/O usually talks about all the cool things that Google is doing. The Advanced Technology and Projects Lab (ATAP) took the stage to talk about Project Tango, which will let you 3D scan your surroundings via a seven-inch tablet.
Disclosure: I’m on a nationwide roadtrip called 3DRV that is sponsored by Autodesk, Faro, Nvidia, HP, Stratasys, Jayco RV, and my company Refine Digital. As I 3D scan and 3D print my way around the USA, I’m learning more and more about scanning technologies. Join me via Twitter at #3DRV.
The tablet seems to be the current path because it probably requires more power than a smaller form factor allows, which is why The Next Web reports Google discontinued the Tango phone. They have a terrific write-up, with photos, about what they experienced at the Google I/O Project Tango booth. But Google Tango Phones will return, I’m betting.
Mashable stated that the Google I/O event had “shock and awe” because of the Project Tango and Ara session: “Johnny Lee started off the session with an onstage demo, showing off the technology that uses multiple cameras to create 3D renderings by weaving together depth and location information.”
Developers can get their hands on the tablets, according to the Project Tango site: “the new 7" development kit is powered by the new NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor packed with 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, motion tracking camera, integrated depth sensing,” plus the two standard type cameras existing devices tend to have already. Those two additional sensors are obviously key to the device knowing where it is in time and space. Make has the best “review” of the Tango project that I’ve read – contributor Omar Soubra walks you through his expert test of it.
I have been doing real-time scans of objects and surroundings on the 3DRV roadtrip with just a smartphone and letting software stitch them together. As we put more of these devices in the hands of everyday consumers – all sorts of places will be mapped, some preserved (from an archive perspective) or made more accessible.
Mapping or scanning with photos, arguably not as accurate or rich as 3D laser scans, is impressive once you run the photos through software. Imagine you are doing a three dimensional photo series with the panorama setting on your camera, except you snap 50 photos of the entire space or object and let the software stitch the photos together for you. My son and I started scanning his LEGO creations to keep a full 3D digital model of them. We're doing more and more of it, for fun and for work.
Google knows this, of course, and ultimately will want to put these “MapPhones” into as many hands as possible – clearly the Ara project, which is building inexpensive, modular phones so you can build one affordably, exactly as you want it, is going to put a lot more Android devices out there. If you make a phone that is so configurable, the various sensors and cams will eventually be an affordable, modular option, too. The Google Map Army, so to speak.
Google spent a fairly large sum to create a digital model map the world, but if they build Project Tango right, citizen-photographers and everyday smartphone users who want to see their local spaces mapped could help scan the interiors of most buildings and locations around the world. I’m thinking about how Waze made traffic reporting ubiquitous and a similar reporting app could allow the same for interior spaces. The fact that they reference it as a 3D Mapping tool gives a pretty solid idea of where they are heading. They won't be able to do for interiors what they did for Street View without upsetting a pretty large portion of the world. But if people map their own spaces, and share them, that's another story.
More importantly, Google is helping to pave the way for more serious applications in medicine, retail, police/crime scene work, and robotics, just to name a few that are likely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Look at the list of sponsors or partners on the Tango site and you can see some of the potential of this more powerful tablet.
