Google wants you to see the future, not just with Google Glass, but also with its new Project Tango. Project Tango is an experimental smartphone with 3D sensors that scan, assess and interpret your environment.
Google envisions a lot of different applications for Project Tango, including augmented reality-based gaming, construction, shopping, navigation and other uses that we still haven't dreamed up. The project's prototype is a 5-inch smartphone complete with Android software, an SDK for developers and 3D sensors from its Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division. Using the sensors, the prototype smartphone detects motion and also analyzes the space in which you are located to build a 3D model of it for you.
Johnny Lee, head of the ATAP-Project Tango Team explained the potential benefits of this cutting-edge technology in a brief intro on the Project Tango website:
"As we walk through our daily lives, we use visual cues to navigate and understand the world around us. We observe the size and shape of objects and rooms, and we learn their position and layout almost effortlessly over time. This awareness of space and motion is fundamental to the way we interact with our environment and each other. We are physical beings that live in a 3D world. Yet, our mobile devices assume that physical world ends at the boundaries of the screen."
Google wants to create a world where the barrier between technology and environment does not exist.
Needless to say, that is still at least half a century away from becoming reality, but Project Tango might be the first rudimentary step in that direction. After all, When Google first showed off Google Glass, everybody thought they were nuts. Now, police departments, airlines and normal people are actually finding practical uses for Glass. The same could happen with Project Tango.
Google is handing out the prototype and SDK to 200 hand-selected developers to test and play around with before it opens up the SDK to all developers. Initially, Google will send the SDK to developers who want to create "indoor navigation/mapping, single/multiplayer games that use physical space, and new algorithms for processing sensor data." App developers can use Java, C/C++ to build apps for the prototype. APIs for the smartphone are still under construction.
Although its currently in incubation mode, Project Tango looks very interesting. It could change the way we interact with our environment and even lead to some very immersive gaming and entertainment experiences. It will be interesting to see what developers come up with. Just like with Glass, I'm sure Project Tango has a million and one uses that we just haven't thought of yet.
