The Future of…Everything
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Forget game consoles, touchscreen devices, and computers; when the Cocoon by NAU is released, it will make all existing technology seem, well, kinda basic. The Cocoon is a digital experience that is both intuitive and holistic. Basically, it is a circular human-sized dome that puts users in a new digital dimension. View anything with a 360 degree screen, and control it with gestures. Equipped with motion sensing software inspired by Minority Report, it enables your body to be the interface. Like Minority Report, you can reach out and grab information, move it around, blow it up, or move it behind you. But the application is limitless. Whether it be gaming, relaxing under the Northern lights, fitness training, or you want to go on a virtual underwater tour of the Fijian waters, the Cocoon is capable of it. Lets say you are walking around the streets of Berlin and you reach out at a dimly lit monument. At the snap of your fingers, a thin semi-transparent holographic menu appears and hovers in front of you. You can touch it and save the image to your hard drive. Or maybe you want to use the Cacoon for as a gaming console. Using the motion sensing cameras and wrap around display, you can fight off enemies with your body. The Cocoon’s possibilities are endless.
And now, on to the technology. “At the core of the Cocoon is a 3D motion tracking system that will track user’s arm, hand, and leg positions with a series of motion-tracking cameras embedded in the display dome and sensor pad on the floor. Monitoring these points allows realistic motion of the user to be recreated in virtual space and lets users navigate menus through pre-determined hand gestures or voice commands. Users can fight in a kung-fu game or swim through a sea of jellyfish, with the display responding real-time and in surround vision.” While this is not currently available to the public, a number of Cocoons will be leased to corporations for remote working solutions and internal communication. But soon, you might see this Cocoon in public places like airport lounges, and maybe eventually in your living room. NAU hopes to complete its prototype Cocoon by October 2009, with models commercially available by 2014. [Via TechFresh]
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