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Google Rumored To Be Making 3D-Scanning Tablets
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google may be planning to commoditze 3-D scanning by building the tech of its Project Tango project (essentially, thus far, a phone-sized handheld with 3-D sensing capabilities) into tablets. The Register speculates: "Given that Google has already announced the Project Tango smartphone, it seems likely that it would extend the technology to tablets, and the seven-inch form factor would tie in nicely with the existing Nexus 7 design. ...Google is hoping that developers can build applications to use the scanning capabilities of the Tango hardware. Suggested topics include providing guides for visually impaired people, building gaming maps based on actual rooms, and possibly augmenting Google Maps with interior details – Street View becoming Home View perhaps?" Setting aside what brand it might bear, how would you employ a portable 3-D scanner?
In before flood of 3D dick pics.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
... for one example. for others:
Broken parts.
Design with the parts on hand.
Historical buildings and sites.
3d printer corrections.
After all the ruckus about street view accidentally peering into windows, I don't think "Home View" would be a good idea.
That being said, the technology showcase demo indicated a relatively limited range. If they can overcome that - not dramatically mind you, but the ability to scan 10-20 meters instead of just about two or three - then the ability to build things nearly instantly into 3D space can be useful. Augmented reality situations also become much more immersive as the augmentation can react to its surroundings more effectively.
@Whee
I'd scan my school interior, post it to a 3d-shooter site under my nemesis' name and wait for the cops to show up at his door.
You mean besides the fact that this would be THE enabling technology to finally make 3d printing a realistic option for average home users?
If it works well enough (for example, would let you stitch together shots from different angles, so you're not just modeling the fronts of objects), think of what that would mean. Take your 3d image of, say, a broken part. Possibly apply a filter or two to it, like "Rust remover" or "Glue pieces together". Click "Share" like with photos on android, and you're given a list of everything that can take a 3d model. One example could be an email to yourself so you can print at home. Or, for most people, an app for companies like iMaterialize, or perhaps a new service owned by Google. Pick your material (metals, plastics, ceramics, rubber, etc) and other print options, possibly pay for a rush order if you need it fast... and you're charged as if buying a song, it's dispatched, printed, and comes right to your house in the mail.
Another "Share" option could be a 3d model gallery (a "3d Flickr" or whatnot), with the default license set to public domain so anyone else can download. Suddenly there's a huge influx of searchable, free 3d models of almost anything you can imagine online. People could also restrict their models or charge for high-res versions of their models. Such a service could have convenient button to send an online model to a 3d printing service. Smart 3d printing services would keep track of how often given models are being downloaded and automatically launch the set up various degrees of mass production for the most commonly printed ones, lowering their prices. Anyone who expects high volume on a part could prepay for mass production setup. Basically, the difference between conventional mass-manufacture and custom user-created manufacture could practically disappear.
The possibilities are endless. Widespread 3d model creation plus easy sharing = widespread 3d printing. It could be a game changer if done right.
For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
I agree, this could be used invasively, and I'm not in any hurry to show the world the interior of my house.
That said, this could be incredibly useful in public spaces.
For example, you get off a bus in New York's Port Authority terminal, 2 stories above ground, and you need to get on a subway to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. It would be very helpful to have stairwell & corridor directions to the correct platform. Suddenly smoke starts pouring out the lead car train in that maze of platforms. It would save lives if people, not only on site up upstream from the affected area, were suddenly told to reverse course and clear the exitways. It could be like traffic for pedestrians.
Another example:
You have a factory full of pipes and valves and 2000 amp busbars and 440 volt 3 phase machinery. You've always painted your piping different colors (raw materials, steam, cold water, product, etc). Now you would like to be able to pay someone to build a digital model of the whole factory, including locations of every pipe, valve, switch, gauge, etc. The cost of building that digital model used to be prohibitive; suddenly now it's reasonable. With the digital model, you can plan improvements better, find potential safety issues, target repairs, etc.
So yeah, I get that it could be invasive, and we need to make sure it's not. It could also be incredibly helpful.
--- Often in error; never in doubt!
3D printing will need to get to a higher quality before home users will get involved. Much higher resolution in the pieces. Maybe a variable print head so that material can be made smaller or larger as needed.
What gets me is if the tech is small enough to go into a tablet. Then it is small enough for a drone. Add in a laser range finder and you could scan and map a house quickly. Military would like that. However remodeling homes and businesses would love it. Tie the output into the unreal engine and you could redesign and then walk through a home remodel.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Google's project looks very very low quality. There are already projects, like using the lidar from a vaccum cleaner neato xv-11 or from distance mesuring lasers https://www.youtube.com/watch?... There's another cool project that looks very promising for 3d scanning. It uses odometry and scans from 2 webcams. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... It's still early but you can download it in the video link
Similar but less portable technologies are being used in just this way, to document existing structures, locations of electrical, plumbing, HVAC, networking cables, etc.. This location-based inventory is massively useful when planning and costing systems upgrades, particularly on campuses where there may be a complicated interaction of old and new structures.
This is also used in nuclear containments, for similar reason. It is even more useful as operators generally have limited periodic access to the containment, for obvious exposure reasons. Having an accurate 3D model of the containment and locations of equipment would greatly enhance the ability to simulate accident scenarios and to plan for upgrade outages.
The one hangup with these technologies is making the 3D models clean enough such they can be readily imported into engineering simulation software. In particular, CFD models of nuclear containments is complicated by poor geometry rendering (thin slivers of volume, non-planar surfaces, etc.).
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