Not out of place in a game of Battlefield or Call of Duty, a ball fitted with cameras will go on sale next month.
The 360 views delivered by Bounce Imaging's field-deployable gadget could be a game changer for cops and other first responders.
"Everyday, we ask brave men and women to enter hazardous, unseen spaces," says Bounce Imaging in a promotional video. "We ask police to pursue and detain violent suspects. We ask firefighters to search burning buildings for victims. We ask soldiers to clear buildings, caves and compounds."
There's technology in place that can lower the risk of going into dangerous places blind, technologies like robots and fiber optic cameras typically never make it to the front lines, the company says. Enter, the Explorer.
The $1400 Explorer was drawn up and fabricated by MIT Alumnus Francisco Aguilar's Bounce Imaging. The tactical throwing ball shares its 360 video feeds with Android and iOS smartphones, via Wi-Fi, and it give first responders last-second intel that saves lives.
A central processor moderate the imagery captured by the Explorer's camera, which has six lenses. That video is stitched together using a load-lightening algorithm created by the Costa Rican Institute of Technology.
The Explorer has a range of 60 feet, through a "standard wall." And with its array of LEDs, the tactical ball can also put on a light show.
When Aguilar dreamed up the Explorer, his target audience was for search and rescue teams. But then police departments got wind of the Explorer and Bounce Imaging's focus shifted.
Bounce Imaging focus, right now, is locked on ensuring the Explorer is ready for market, according to Aguilar. But the Bounce Imaging CEO hinted that he may soon pitch the ball to content creators in the emerging field of virtual reality -- sports may never be the same.
"Our main focus is making sure the [Explorer] works well in the market," Aguilar says. "And then we're trying to see what exciting things we can do with the imaging processing, which could vastly reduce computational requirements for a range of industries developing around immersive video."
