R2D2 would be impressed.
Thirty-three years after he helped Princess Leia make an impassioned plea
from afar in Star Wars, scientists are making 3-D telepresence a reality.
“It is no longer something that is science fiction, it is actually
something that you can do today,” says Nasser Peyghambarian, leader of a U.S.
team that is busy sending 3-D moving holograms of Phantom jets and people from
one location to another.
“We have demonstrated the concept and it works,” says Peyghambarian, whose
optical science team at the University of Arizona describes the new system in
the journal Nature, to be released Thursday.
He and his colleagues say it is not quite ready for prime time. The
“holographic telepresence” is limited to images 43 centimetres high, which is
about how big Princess Leia’s telepresence was in the iconic Star Wars scene.
Colour is also limited and the holograms’ movements are halting as it takes two
seconds for them to “refresh.”
But Peyghambarian expects that within a few years life-size, full-colour,
high-resolution holographs of people and objects will be popping out of tables
and walls in research labs. And within seven to 10 years, he predicts they
could be popping out of conferencing, medical, design and entertainment systems.
The people and objects will look real, Peyghambarian says, but if you try to
reach out and touch them, there would be “nothing there.”
Several companies are racing to produce 3-D television and conferencing
systems so people can attend virtual meetings, reducing the need for travel and
time away from home.
But Peyghambarian says most systems use just two perspectives, while the
holographic telepresence has 16 and does not require 3-D glasses. His team is
aiming for hundreds of perspectives showing objects and people from all angles,
which is much closer to what the naked eye sees in the real world.
“I don’t think there is any fundamental physics that would prevent us from
getting there,” he told reporters in a webcast this week.
At the heart of the new system is a multicolour, holographic display that
refreshes every two seconds and gives the effect of quasi-real-time updating,
using a new “photorefractive polymer” as the recording material. The images
are taken by regular cameras at multiple angles in one location and sent to
another location using Ethernet communication and then projected with the help
of lasers on the computerized hologram setup.
The prototype described in the Nature paper had a 25-centimetre screen, but
Peyghambarian says they now have a 43-centimetre system up and running. It uses
16 cameras to photograph objects from different angles. The more cameras used,
the higher the resolution of the holograph, says Peyghambarian, who says an
array of cameras in his Tucson office and a fast Internet connection would
enable him to give a tele-presentation in New York.
“At the other end, in New York, there would be the 3-D display using our
laser system,” he says. “Everything is fully automated and controlled by
The system has what the scientists call `full parallax’: “As you move your
head left and right or up and down, you see different perspectives. This makes
for a very lifelike image,” says Peyghambarian. “Humans are used to seeing
things in 3-D.”
There is also an audio option so lifelike, holograms could speak and
interact with audiences.
The researchers, have patents pending on both the material and optical
system, and are particularly keen on the possibilities for telemedicine.
“Especially for brain surgery, surgeons at different locations around the
world can observe in 3-D, in real time, and participate in the surgical
procedure,” they conclude in their paper.
Lead author Pierre-Alexandre Blanche says along with 3-D medical imaging,
another early application might be in the “military for command and control 3-
D battle maps” and holographic advertising.
“The next step will be to have a smaller, faster display to interest the
entertainment market,” he says, noting that there is “still some hard work”
to do before that happens.
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