Researchers at Microsoft have developed a technology and are showing off what they call “holoportation,” The technology is about virtual teleportation with real-time interaction with 3D models that may be a breakthrough in communication technology.

Holoportation

Researchers at Microsoft have developed a technology and are showing off what they call “holoportation,” The technology is about virtual teleportation with real-time interaction with 3D models that may be a breakthrough in communication technology.

An interesting concept being seen as the future of personal communication, it utilizes a series of 3D cameras and an augmented-reality display and shows how someone can interact with another person in a remote location.

Microsoft describe the process on its website like this: “Holoportation is a new type of 3D capture technology that allows high-quality 3D models of people to be reconstructed, compressed, and transmitted anywhere in the world in real-time. When combined with mixed-reality displays such as HoloLens, this technology allows users to see and interact with remote participants in 3D as if they are actually present in their physical space. Communicating and interacting with remote users becomes as natural as face-to-face communication.”

Technology like this could allow people to interact with those who are great distances away or store and replay files of people who have died, as a way to remember them.

The techniques used are still being perfected and, undoubtedly, it will not be long before the 3D models seen within the augmented reality environment will be virtually indistinguishable from actual people.

Another use of holoportation technology could be in the business world. The technology could allow several people at once to ‘holoport’ to their company’s headquarters in order to remotely attend a meeting, that too in real time. Those ‘holoporting’ in would also be able to talk to other holoporters, who’re physically located elsewhere.

Whether it actually will go on sale, however remains to be seen. Microsoft is only just now getting ready to send out its first wave of HoloLens developer kits, and the special recording equipment needed to record people in 3D isn’t exactly cheap, so it may well be several years before holoportation becomes commonplace, if at all.