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Project Tango

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Re: Project Tango

#211

Post by bgruber »

evanlivingston wrote: post #81
martythemaniak wrote: post #27

This is essentially putting a Kinect in your phone and hooking it up with hopefully high-level APIs. It may take 2-3 years to make it into regular phones, but when it does it will be huge. Apple's acquisition of PrimeSense (the makers of the 1st gen Kinect) means they're also working on this. To give you a real-world example: when I started BarSsense ( http://www.barsense.com ) the core problem was tracking the path…

I don't understand the application beyond gaming. The other applications discussed are basically shopping. Essentially this would make it much easier to represent the physical world digitally. But what use cases does a consumer or the average phone user have for digital representations of the physical space around them, particularly given that the user is already aware of the the physical space around them? How can t…

I think of it as similar in its final goal as at&t/olivetti research's "The Bat" ubiquitous or sentient computing project. These links provide some good examples of stuff they did with that: http://www.vs.inf.ethz.ch/events/dag2002/program/ws/Beresfor... http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/shodges/videos...

in short, the physical world can be treated as a user interface to computers.

There's a large technical distinction of course; in the case of the bat, getting the technology up and running to do this was sophisticated enough that the video i linked to spends a large portion explaining how it works. they used centralized computers and centralized sensors (echo-locators) to figure out where the device you are holding is within a known environment. Nowadays, we can put so much compute power and so many sensors in a device you are holding that it can figure out its own environment instead.

Re: Project Tango

#212

Post by joebobfrank »

skywhopper wrote: post #26

I wish I could go back to the time when I thought this kind of thing was awesome. Nowadays, it's just one more aspect of our private lives that'll be stored on Google's (or whomever) servers, sold to advertisers, harvested by the NSA, and abused by law enforcement. Add some object recognition to the 3D scanning, and you can start getting marketing messages about how much better [Featured Brand]'s refrigerator would s…

Seriously?! This kind of talk sounds just like conspiracy theory to me. If the worst case you can come up with for this tech is that the DEA will be able to find pictures of drug paraphernalia YOU YOURSELF take pictures of and upload, then I really can't see why you take issue with this tech. Just don't turn the room mapping service on to take pictures of stuff you don't want online; you're still in control here. Besides, if the government really has it out for you as an individual, they won't need pictures of the inside of your house to justify searching it, I'm sure they can come up with any number of other reasons. Do you put stickers over your phone camera to prevent the DEA spying on your room to see your drug paraphernalia? No? I didn't think so.

The possible benefits of this tech are tremendous, and far outweigh any crazy conspiracy theory downsides.

Re: Project Tango

#213

Post by joebobfrank »

rl3 wrote: post #99
skywhopper wrote: post #26

I wish I could go back to the time when I thought this kind of thing was awesome. Nowadays, it's just one more aspect of our private lives that'll be stored on Google's (or whomever) servers, sold to advertisers, harvested by the NSA, and abused by law enforcement. Add some object recognition to the 3D scanning, and you can start getting marketing messages about how much better [Featured Brand]'s refrigerator would s…

I suppose the good news is that 3D point cloud data in context of a public setting wouldn't be much more invasive than the already-pervasive video surveillance we have today. The bad news is as you say: having mapping data of your private residence siphoned off by third parties, be it government or private industry. I would say I'm as excited as I am worried about the potential for this technology. That said, I think…

If you don't want to show something in the map you yourself create of your own home, then just don't include it in the map.

Having point cloud data of your home in general is a complete non-issue, I'm sure most of the time the government already has floor plan data for your home.

Re: Project Tango

#214

Post by JabavuAdams »

secstate wrote: post #187
evanlivingston wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm a neo-luddite.

I pretty much stopped reading when they were going through the possible applications. Find my way around a super-store, shit I'd rather just stay out if at all possible. In the meantime, I'm sure this will revolutionize something. It always does. I'm just in your same position ... a neo-luddite. Also, I would much rather have a space elevator than a 3D mapping phone.

The 3D mapping phone gets you the space elevator, because you need AI lab-assistants / engineers / scientists to build the space elevator.

Re: Project Tango

#215

Post by bhousel »

bobbles wrote: post #134
martythemaniak wrote: post #27

This is essentially putting a Kinect in your phone and hooking it up with hopefully high-level APIs. It may take 2-3 years to make it into regular phones, but when it does it will be huge. Apple's acquisition of PrimeSense (the makers of the 1st gen Kinect) means they're also working on this. To give you a real-world example: when I started BarSsense ( http://www.barsense.com ) the core problem was tracking the path…

How is the progress for BarSense for iOS?

Yes, this please. My entire CrossFit box would start using this tomorrow if it were available on iOS. I don't know anyone with an Android.

Re: Project Tango

#216

Post by skywhopper »

joebobfrank wrote: post #212
skywhopper wrote: post #26

I wish I could go back to the time when I thought this kind of thing was awesome. Nowadays, it's just one more aspect of our private lives that'll be stored on Google's (or whomever) servers, sold to advertisers, harvested by the NSA, and abused by law enforcement. Add some object recognition to the 3D scanning, and you can start getting marketing messages about how much better [Featured Brand]'s refrigerator would s…

Seriously?! This kind of talk sounds just like conspiracy theory to me. If the worst case you can come up with for this tech is that the DEA will be able to find pictures of drug paraphernalia YOU YOURSELF take pictures of and upload, then I really can't see why you take issue with this tech. Just don't turn the room mapping service on to take pictures of stuff you don't want online; you're still in control here. Bes…

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek and hyperbolic, but none of it is outside the range of what goes on with every other similar technology today. My main point was that I used to be excited about stuff like this, but now I just wonder how new tech will be abused to deliver ads.

Re: Project Tango

#217

Post by JabavuAdams »

evanlivingston wrote: post #81
martythemaniak wrote: post #27

This is essentially putting a Kinect in your phone and hooking it up with hopefully high-level APIs. It may take 2-3 years to make it into regular phones, but when it does it will be huge. Apple's acquisition of PrimeSense (the makers of the 1st gen Kinect) means they're also working on this. To give you a real-world example: when I started BarSsense ( http://www.barsense.com ) the core problem was tracking the path…

I don't understand the application beyond gaming. The other applications discussed are basically shopping. Essentially this would make it much easier to represent the physical world digitally. But what use cases does a consumer or the average phone user have for digital representations of the physical space around them, particularly given that the user is already aware of the the physical space around them? How can t…

What offices are in the second floor of that building across the street?

Is there something special about the house I'm pointing my phone at?

Who owns the daycare centre I'm pointing my phone at? Have there been any licensing / regulatory violations?

Paint a coloured path on the floor or wall to guide me to the dentist's office.

I'm old and can't see very well. Give me verbal directions to navigate (indoors) to get to the clinic.

I've got a wet spot on my basement ceiling. Highlight the outside of the house where water might be entering.

Re: Project Tango

#218

Post by joebobfrank »

skywhopper wrote: post #216
joebobfrank wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously?! This kind of talk sounds just like conspiracy theory to me. If the worst case you can come up with for this tech is that the DEA will be able to find pictures of drug paraphernalia YOU YOURSELF take pictures of and upload, then I really can't see why you take issue with this tech. Just don't turn the room mapping service on to take pictures of stuff you don't want online; you're still in control here. Bes…

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek and hyperbolic, but none of it is outside the range of what goes on with every other similar technology today. My main point was that I used to be excited about stuff like this, but now I just wonder how new tech will be abused to deliver ads.

Such a boring and cynical way to see the world. Even if the technology is used to target ads to you more effectively, how exactly is this a bad thing? How are you being harmed?

Re: Project Tango

#219

Post by ulyssesgrant »

As someone who's worked on visual odometry projects before, I'm extremely interested in how they're able to compute the phone's motion estimations so accurately and in real time on a mobile device. Is any of this project open source? Is anyone here familiar with the vision techniques they're using to accomplish this feat? Perhaps there's an FPGA or ASIC designed for visual odometry inside the phone.
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