The uncles who haven’t met their newborn nieces, grandparents who have missed the first tooth of their grandchildren, and star-crossed lovers who haven’t seen each other for months. Those are the unwritten stories of this pandemic, where shaky Zoom calls had to replace the joy of real togetherness. Someone had to ask if there could be a better, more life-like way. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was Google. Years before the pandemic, they started developing Project Starline: a 3D video conferencing tool aiming to recreate real-life meetings. It really does so in a hauntingly accurate way, as demonstrated at the Google I/O developer conference.
Project Starline: together apart
Google describes Project Starline as a “magic window”, and honestly speaking, that’s exactly what it looks like. When you sit down in front of it, it captures you as you are, with every curl and wrinkle, in actual size. The same happens on the other side, and so when you talk to your loved ones or colleagues, it feels as if they were there in the room with you.
“There are really three breakthroughs coming together here,” explains Steve Seitz, Google’s Director of Engineering. “One is the ability to capture people as they are. The second is the ability to compress that information and send it over existing networks efficiently. And the third is the ability to render that person viewable through a three-dimensional display.”
Right now, Project Starline is a long way from the mainstream. While it doesn’t annoy users with headsets or glasses, it does require custom-built hardware and highly specialized equipment. If you think the price tag must be through the roof: yes, it absolutely is. But Google pledges to make this tech “more affordable and accessible, including bringing some of these technical advancements into our suite of communication products.”
The future of meetings
Even when – or if – we go back to business as usual, the future of meetings is hybrid. The face-to-face meetings are crucial for productivity, connection, and fostering the collaborative spirit of teams. And virtual ones are inevitable in a world that will remain somewhat remote.
Tools like Project Starline or Microsoft’s mixed reality platform Mesh have the potential to deliver the best of both worlds. But first, they need to be more than a really cool demonstration at a conference and become accessible to “real” people. Moreover, this is probably not our last pandemic – and if we’re to be stuck at home yet again, tools like this can make wonders for our mental health.
Image credit Google, Project Starline
