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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Team's 3-D hologram set to take phone booths into new dimension |
| 2004-12-01 |
| It's an idea that was popularized by Princess Leia's plea for help in "Star Wars": sending a 3-D hologram. Professor Susumu Tachi (right) of the University of Tokyo and researcher Tomohiro Endo of the University of Nagoya view a 3-D hologram image on their new invention, dubbed SeeLinder, at a laboratory in Tokyo. Now, two scientists have developed technology they hope will one day turn the humble telephone booth into a high-tech chamber for beaming holographic images. At a University of Tokyo laboratory, a woman stands inside a booth where a 360-degree digital camera surrounding her face sends data to a cylindrical tube. Soon, she appears to be staring out from the tube. Viewed from the side, only the side of her head is visible. Go round to the back, and only her hair can be seen. "We can see the 3-D image as if it's inside the cylinder," said Susumu Tachi, a Tokyo University professor of computer science and physics, during a recent demonstration. With the device, "we can have a family gathering or conference at a remote place." Tachi and Tomohiro Endo developed the cylinder -- dubbed SeeLinder -- by combining fiber optics, electronics and white light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. The hologram cylinder resembles a zoetrope, a primitive motion-picture wheel. Inside the cylinder, an outer wheel with vertical slits revolves clockwise at a fast clip, while an inner wheel moving counterclockwise at a slower speed lined vertically with LEDs projects thin slices of a person's face. The rapid succession of image slices seen through the slits produces the illusion that the viewer can see the person's entire face at once, in 3-D. The image appears to be about 20 cm in diameter and 25 cm high. There are limitations. Looking at the cylinder from above or below doesn't change the image, and the hologram is still fuzzier than modern TV screens. It's also pricey. One cylinder costs 10 million yen, though Tachi and Endo expect that to fall if the gadget is ever mass-produced. Endo said they're refining the technology, and given demand, can commercialize their product soon. "We think this can be on the market in the near future," he said. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 raptor: info test results |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-12-01 11:25:43 AM |
| #3 great! my girlfriends gonna know i'm not where i'm supposed to be |
| Posted by: Elmoluling Snetle5118 2004-12-01 9:58:07 AM |
| #2 Adding a whole new deminsion to phone sex.Can't wait to get my hands on an orgasmatron! |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-12-01 8:59:31 AM |
| #1 Hehe doubt they will be a success in my neighbourhood . Picture the scene , 12am pub throwing out time , everybody binge drinked into oblivion , violent neighbourhood . Dont think they would mix well esp at 10 million yen a hit . Normal phone boxes only last a matter of days , b4 the next weekend maurauders pile thro ! |
| Posted by: MacNails 2004-12-01 8:47:27 AM |
