IBM has pinpointed 3D telepresence as a life-changing innovation in its yearly prediction of technologies set to influence the next five years.
The company’s annual “Next Five in Five” report is based on market and societal trends expected
to transform lives and, this year it starts with 3D holograms.
IBM says 3D interfaces will allow
people to interact with 3D holograms of friends and colleagues in real time via devices such as
cell phones.
“Scientists are working to improve video chat to become holography chat or ‘3D telepresence’,” according
to the report. “The technique uses light beams scattered from objects and reconstructs a picture of that
object, a similar technique to the one human eyes use to visualise our surroundings.”
IBM says that
scientists at its IBM Research branch are working on new ways to visualise 3D data. The researchers
are working on technology that would allow engineers to step inside designs of everything from buildings to
software programmes, running simulations of how diseases spread across interactive 3D globes and visualising trends happening around the world on Twitter.