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Intel Putting 3D Scanners In Consumer Tablets Next Year, Phones To Follow

Posted by Soulskill on from the make-me-a-tricorder dept.

Zothecula writes: Intel has been working on a 3D scanner small enough to fit in the bezel of even the thinnest tablets. The company aims to have the technology in tablets from 2015, with CEO Brian Krzanich telling the crowd at MakerCon in New York on Thursday that he hopes to put the technology in phones as well.

75 comments

  1. What's next? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

    Is the next step to add a 3D printer into the bezel of laptop displays?

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    1. Re:What's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they skipped that step because it seemed stupid and akward

  2. yes, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what for?

    1. Re:yes, but by rlwhite · · Score: 2

      Someday you may be able to:

      Got a non-barcoded product you can't identify? 3D scan it and automatically identify the make/model and shop for it.
      Get sized for clothing without stepping into a store, and then get tailored clothes straight from a factory via an Internet order.
      View 3D models of everything as you shop online.

      That's just a few retail-centric ideas. I imagine there's also applications possible in the arts, gaming, etc.

    2. Re:yes, but by Richy_T · · Score: 1

      What for?

    3. Re:yes, but by crackspackle · · Score: 2

      I imagine there's also applications possible in the arts, gaming, etc.

      Now we can send penis models, not just penis cam shots.

    4. Re: yes, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better Face Unlock.

  3. How will this help me play angry birds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I think this is totally awesome, really I do. But I'm not really sure what I'd use it for.

    What sort of everyday things would someone use a scanner for? (No, scanning a widget to make a 3d printed version of it does not count as everyday.)

    1. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by spacepimp · · Score: 1

      Why does it need to be an everyday thing? Most smart phone users don't take photographs every day, but they put the camera on there nonetheless.
      Most people don't use Bluetooth every day, but they put it on the device anyway.

      The uses here are for generating 3d objects for games, video, or just for shits n' giggles. From the perspective of engineering this is an incredibly useful feature when doing a primary walk through pre bid on a project.

      At some point the idea of a flat 2D photo will give way to 3d photogrpahy/photogrammetry/

    2. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by arielCo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In a mobile device, and given the usage trends? 3-D dick pics.

      --
      This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
    3. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iDildo

    4. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by maliqua · · Score: 1

      sexting in 3d

    5. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by fishybell · · Score: 1

      Sex has never been so slow.

      --
      ><));>
    6. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      Why does it need to be an everyday thing? Most smart phone users don't take photographs every day, but they put the camera on there nonetheless.

      Sadly, I'm not sure that's true.

    7. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by JasonGoatcher · · Score: 0

      Sex isn't politically correct enough, they'd have to have a hook like protecting children or something.

    8. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by Richy_T · · Score: 1

      You're either five years to late or 5 years to early for the last and next 3D fads respectively.

    9. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by Richy_T · · Score: 1

      too, too

    10. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by submain · · Score: 1

      The Fappenning. Now in 3D.

    11. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the camera wasn't as good an example of the FM receiver many phones have, or the accelerometer.

      While perhaps most nerds don't go around taking pictures every day, everyone else in the world tries to be probing to figure out how much space exists on Facebook's HDD's by filling them up with pictures as fast as they can.

      Or at least, that's what the view of my gf's Macbook suggests.

    12. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by flappinbooger · · Score: 1

      I think this is totally awesome, really I do. But I'm not really sure what I'd use it for.

      What sort of everyday things would someone use a scanner for? (No, scanning a widget to make a 3d printed version of it does not count as everyday.)

      3d printing is the future, this goes along with that.

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
    13. Re:How will this help me play angry birds? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      And politicans that have a need to "share"

  4. Photoshop by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    Does this mean celebrities will need to use Blender instead of Photoshop in the future?

  5. Uses? by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's telling that the article doesn't mention one practical application. Intel's next step for 2016: Attempt to create demand for 3D scanners in consumer tablets.

    Perhaps a "Measure My Cat" app?

    1. Re:Uses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      pr0n and sexting....

      When send a picture when you can send a 3D representation?

    2. Re:Uses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It sounds like it could be great if you want to develop models more quickly than you could from scratch in a modeling program, possibly for use in game development.

    3. Re:Uses? by pr0fessor · · Score: 2

      I was thinking... manufactures that sell over priced molded plastic replacement parts will be really annoyed.

    4. Re:Uses? by maliqua · · Score: 1

      who cares if its practical its something people want, 99% of what we buy isn't because its practical

      anyone with a 3d printer will be excited by this even if its not an everyday toy

    5. Re:Uses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All 6 of them?

      That's the thing, until 3d printers get to be a lot more common, and a lot less expensive, it makes no sense to build this sort of thing into a phone or tablet. It's just a way of Intel picking people's pockets over something that they don't need and probably can't even use.

    6. Re:Uses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hobbyist building homemade robots.

    7. Re:Uses? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      If you can't figure out a use for this technology, go sit in the corner and let the rest of us talk. Depending on the resolution, this could be used for object identification, for artists and engineers to quickly set up projects, for real estate agents to create quick walk throughs or better descriptions of property. That's just off the top of my pointed little head.

      And of course, for the myriad Rule 34 topics that have already been discussed.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    8. Re:Uses? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      ...for real estate agents to create quick walk throughs or better descriptions of property.

      Similarly, if the resolution is good enough, it might let contractors and designers get an accurate model of a room without needing to use a camera and tape measure on every surface.

    9. Re:Uses? by Richy_T · · Score: 1

      Exactly my thoughts. And I'm into 3d printing and taking 3d pictures. This just makes no sense for everyday use for the mass market.

    10. Re:Uses? by kamapuaa · · Score: 1

      While we're coming up with nonsense ideas - If you put it in your closet, it can pick out your entire wardrobe!

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    11. Re:Uses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have to be really overpriced to get all that annoyed. It's rarely cheaper to 3D print something than it is to go buy it (having been produced in bulk often to higher specifications using less in the way of raw materials). The excitement over 3D printers has largely been more oriented around being able to tweak things than to just copy them for this reason.

      Of course, being able to scan existing items to later edit the scan to say, add in new features, is alluring (especially for one like myself who isn't remotely versed enough to go designing something from the ground up with CAD software, but would probably be confident enough to go in and figure out how to edit something).

      I'd be excited for this feature in any case. That's not to say I'd be all that interested in paying much more for it (especially in lieu of easy quick access to a 3D printer anyway), but if they want to just tack it on as another standard feature, sounds like good news in my book. Now, if only they'd give me a phone I can go scuba-diving with as well as drop off a building...

    12. Re:Uses? by kheldan · · Score: 1

      I can think of two 'applications' that will appeal to the Internets, at least:
      1. Longcat is LONG! (scanner data follows)
      2. I am not a manlet, and I can prove it! (scanner data follows)

      --
      Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    13. Re:Uses? by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      I would love an app that can tell me wich of the myrad of threads a pipe connection has. Is it NPT? Is it BSP-T? Is it metric?

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  6. copyright&co will make this 'fun' by Selur · · Score: 2

    This is a nice thing in the long run (once 3D printers are more widely spread, better and cheaper), but in the short run this will probably cause more trouble than it is worth.
    Thinking about a younger person, like my son, who might scan some of his toys,gimmicks,... and post those scans somewhere and about some lawyer suing because he violated some laws he wasn't really aware of.
    -> once 3D printers are more wide-spread the fun really starts :)

    1. Re:copyright&co will make this 'fun' by spacepimp · · Score: 1

      Why would this cause problems? the number of uses here are incredible in business fields such as Construction/Engineering/BIM/Architecture/mapping/3d Modelling and gaming.

      Does your son get sued for taking a photograph of his toys? Would he get sued for taking several photographs of his toys?
      Would he get sued for taking a video of his toys?

      That damn video might show the dimensions of the objects.

    2. Re:copyright&co will make this 'fun' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't copy that jalopy!

  7. 3D mobile phones by MindPrison · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I bought the LG 920 Optimus 3D phone some years ago. Awesome 3D screen, 2 x HD cameras for taking 3D photos. Fun for 14 days, after that...it just became an annoyingly big bulgy battery guzzling smartphone just like any other oversized phone out there.

    3D TV? I so wanted them when they came out. After a while with very little use for them I thought Meh... and after an even longer while, the 3D tv sets went for a few hundred dollars, even in 50" sizes. I still thought...Meh...I'll stick to my old 47" LG full HD tv.

    Same thing with Kinect, fun the first few days, fun to also connect it to the PC and play with all the hacks out there....same issue, technically useless stuff, fun...for a little while, but ultimately useless.

    3D scanners? Meh... it'll probably be another fad, scan your objects, watch them on a 3D screen kind of like my Optimus 3D phone or the Nintendo 3DS...novelty item at best.

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
    1. Re:3D mobile phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well yeah, what were you expecting, to suddenly develop Tom Cruise's looks and voice and swift and deft actor hands. All this crap is a fad. Fat kits with dirty popcorn buttered fingers wiggling their hands around in their rooms with porno games or FPS games etc. Nobody really cares once the magic is no longer magic anymore, just plain science and as always, in the wrong hands. The movie, Time Rider, illustrates the matter succinctly.

    2. Re:3D mobile phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Phones should be stuffed to the brim with as many cheap and innovative sensors as possible. Eventually you'll end up with a tricorder.

  8. Perfect for Spying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now your phone can scan the room its in and detect illegal items like guns, books, or even tell the sniper what the room and its people looks like so he can get a better shot through the wall.

  9. Practical uses: by sandmaninator · · Score: 1

    1) Remodeling - just walk into your bathroom, wave the phone around, go to hardware store and ask your phone, "How many 4" tiles do I need" 2) Digitize custom Lego models.... or your house. 3) My weed-wacker has a broken plastic bit, scan the bit, edit it to not be fractured, tell someone with a 3D printer to send me an un-broken version. you're welcome.

  10. Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by Overzeetop · · Score: 2

    There's noting innovative or interesting about this kind of 3D scanning technology. It has no purpose, and will only be part of some "spec war" that goes on in the android phone circles. People just don't need - or want - 3D scanners in their phones.

    Until 2019, when Apple includes the most revolutionary thing to ever occur in a phone - and it's the one thing you can't live without. The i3D module will be what turns the mobile device market on it's head.

    (Sorry for the troll. Sooo many Apple fanbois on my FB feed these last few days. NFC payments, big screens, and optical image stabilization are the second coming, apparently. I just had to lash out.)

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    1. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by MaryAnnEvans · · Score: 0

      The whole point is that Apple won't include it unless it has a worthwhile use. Other companies play spec wars where there is no practical use of a technology for users. Apple doesn't.

    2. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are lots of usages. First off, I've always wanted one to do body scans but never had the time to build a DIY solution. Similar to how people make time lapse sequences of their faces for years, I wanted one of my body to see how it grows and ages over time. For medial use, you can check it see if that mole has always looked that way or changed since the past year. For clothing, you can easily get custom measurements and determine what should fit without trying anything on (doesn't mean it'll feel right, but it'll make shopping easier).

      You can scan your house, load up a model of some furniture you're thinking of buying, and then see how well everything fits together. You can scan small parts and easily create 3D printed replacements (send the model to a nice 3D printing service or get your own, lower quality 3D printer). It'll improve "what this bug" services if users can send in a models instead of images. Scan your building and import it as a map into a game engine. Scan unsuspecting people and drop, virtually or physically, them into your warped reality.

    3. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by swb · · Score: 1

      When Apple does it, though, it will just work and not be a feature either poorly supported by Android or crippled by manufacturer and carrier crapware.

    4. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      NFC payments, big screens, and optical image stabilization are the second coming, apparently.

      I see what you did there.

    5. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      surely, as has happened before with other multimedia tech, there is an application in the porn market that will make it take off

    6. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by JasonGoatcher · · Score: 0

      Michael J. Fox as my role-playing character. And, no, my version wouldn't have the jitters.

    7. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by quenda · · Score: 1

      The whole point is that Apple won't include it unless it has a worthwhile use. Other companies play spec wars where there is no practical use of a technology for users. Apple doesn't.

      Too right. Before Apple added support for copy-and-paste, MMS, multi-tasking, high-res or bluetooth, they were just useless gimmicks on other platforms.

    8. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's more likely if Apple introduced this, it'd be used for security/biometrics (auto-unlock if it's your face, instead of your finger print).

      It just seems to be a ToF camera... with software to turn that into depth information, and stitch multiple photos together to make a model - pretty boring really, and nothing new (although I guess making it cheap AND small enough to put in a phone is the real news here).

    9. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      Which is funny since I left the iOS world this because things stopped "just working."

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    10. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Likewise, running software that isn't in the App store is totally a gimmick with no real use whatsoever.

      And why oh why would I ever want to make an NFC payment with someone using a payment system that isn't from Apple anyway?

      Thank the gods someone is making devices as functional as possible, without all off these unncessary gimmicks!

    11. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by MaryAnnEvans · · Score: 1

      Copy & paste and multi-tasking are better on iOS than Android. Apple waited till they could do better than other companies, rather than just implementing a me-too feature.

      As to hi-res, Apple was first to Retina level resolutions.

    12. Re:Not until Apple includes it in their iPhone by quenda · · Score: 1

      Can't tell if that was a parody, or serious. Either way, a great example of the bizarre twisted logic that zealots employ.
      We always expect new models to improve on previous ones, both from the same company and competitors.

  11. Quality by jklovanc · · Score: 1

    From what little we can see in that single photo of the output it looks like the home 3D scanner produces blurry, inaccurate objects with lots of artifacts and errors. Wait a minute. That will fit right in with the current state of home 3D printers. Score!!

    1. Re:Quality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and the first cameras on cellphones were only a measly 1 Megapixel if you were lucky.

  12. quiz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ok, kids, time for a pop quiz. Take out a sheet of paper and answer the following questions.

    1) how long will it take hackers at the NSA and elsewhere to figure out how to turn this on without your permission or knowledge?

    2) what might they do with the information they would gain from doing this, and how could it be harmful to users?

    3) what opportunities are there for a startup to sell software that blocks this from happening?

  13. yes, but by olsonish · · Score: 1

    3d sexting duh

    Anthony Weiner should be happy that his negative press was only in 2d!

  14. Uses? by Whiternoise · · Score: 2

    The problem with these cameras is that often the data are so noisy that it's difficult to segment anything usable for a modelling environment. Theyre great for rough mapping, augmented reality and for gesture sensing, but for high resolution capture: no. I assume they're using time-of-flight/photonic mixing technology which has exploded in popularity recently now that the sensors are being mass produced. Don't forget they'll be crap outdoors too where background NIR is so high that it swamps the sensor.

    If you can include very robust filtering and averaging then the data will probably be good enough for something like "map my room and plan where to put furniture". There are loads of areas where 3D vision is used daily, mostly in industrial settings, and there may well be a use case for rugged tablets there for e.g. parts inspection. Maybe someone in QA would be equipped with a 3D camera and pings when a part comes out malformed. In practice this is already highly automated using software like MV Halcon and laser line scanning. Perhaps there's a use-case for delivery services for mapping the bounding box of a parcel without needing to measure it.

    For consumers, the answer is: not much, yet. There might be gimmicky applications where you can take a 3D photo and rotate around to get a better angle. Gesture sensing is usually rubbish, waving your hands around is a tiring experience for most people and it gets boring quickly.

  15. Drivers? by NotInHere · · Score: 1

    And I guess you can only use it with the intel super-bloat app which ships with your device, and has a trial of 40 days, after which it costs money, and needs an intel.com account.

    Will there be free drivers or at least a datasheet?

  16. My software has made this tech redundant, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is called the random 3D blob generator and that is what the internet will fill with if this tech is widely taken up, endless, useless, ugly scans of miscellaneous stuff.

    You know how people would blog their lunch and dinner ad nauseum, now we can expect the same in low polygon 3d.

    Oh well at least that horrendous HDR photography abuse trend is dying out as people realise that new and crap are not mutually exclusive.

    1. Re:My software has made this tech redundant, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3D scanning and 3D printing are the future of everything, they're a game-changer and you're a Luddite.

  17. Re:Theoretical Considerations and Limitations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But what will the N.S.A. be able to do with it?

  18. Re:Theoretical Considerations and Limitations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Forget the NSA, advertisers will love it. You couldn't give them any more info about yourself if you invited them into your home to look around.

  19. Re:Theoretical Considerations and Limitations by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    Imagine targeted penis enlargement ads!

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  20. Good idea by Cabriel · · Score: 1

    The best way to generate interest is include it with something the consumer would buy anyway and let them tell their friends what they did with it.

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  23. Re:Theoretical Considerations and Limitations by kheldan · · Score: 1

    I've never seen a camera of any sort (2D or 3D) that didn't have it's style completely and utterly cramped by a small piece of humble black electrical tape, judiciously applied.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  24. Photoshop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It means you can make a 3D version of the celebrities, probably full scale, on your 3D printer, after you download the 3D image of said celebrities. Do you see a market there ?

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