By Will Smale.
Business reporters.
Sawyer Cheng is the image source.
The image caption is.
The Swiss watch boss is in a hologram.
The Swiss watch boss was unable to attend a global trade show in China because of Covid-19 restrictions, so he decided to beam in Star Trek-style.
The chief executive of luxury brand IWC was due to travel to the Watches and Wonders event in China in April.
He joined the show as a life-size, 3D hologram. He was able to see and hear people at the event while he was in 4K resolution.
David Nussbaum, the boss of US holograms firm Portl, said that they beamed him from his office in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, to the event in Shanghai.
He chatted to other executives and even unveiled a new watch in real time. We beamed him out again.
Portl's image source.
The image caption is.
David Nussbaum is showing how the Portl system works.
The coronaviruses have put a stop to a lot of global travel since March 2020, which has led to a growing interest in holograms as a more life-like, more sensory alternative to video calls.
Mr Nussbaum says that Portl can't make their portals fast enough.
The portals are eight feet tall. There is a hologram of a person inside the booths.
The image is from the same source.
The image caption is.
Is it possible to beam me up Scotty? George Takei was in Star Trek.
The hologram's voice can be heard through the speakers in the portals. The user of the hologram can see and hear the people in front of him or her projection with the help of cameras and microphones.
The person needs a camera, a plain backdrop, and another set of speakers and microphones if he or she is standing on the other side of the world from the portal machine.
You can connect to as many portals as you want with Portl's app-controlled software system.
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Mr Nussbaum says there is almost no delay. You'd think the person was standing there if it wasn't for the sheet of glass. If there is no light on the glass so that you can't see it reflecting, then you think the person is actually there.
The Portl system is being used by other firms, such as T-Mobile, and is aimed at business customers.
The company says that the portals can be rented for less than $60,000 each.
"In a few years time, this is going to become a regular way of communicating between offices," says Mr Nussbaum.
Microsoft's hologram communication technology is based on a headset called the HoloLens 2. The 3D holograms are not as realistic as Portl's system.
Chris Hornbecker's image was the source.
The image caption is.
Users of Microsoft's hologram system have to wear headsets.
When two or more headset wearers call each other, their holograms are projected in front of each of them as cartoon-like avatars, that appear to be standing in the same room.
Greg Sullivan, director of mixed reality at Microsoft, said that it would appear that they are in the same physical space, and they could walk around a virtual table and collaborate on things.
German engineering group Thyssenkrupp is putting the technology to practical use.
One of the world's largest manufacturers of lifts or elevators used to have to fly their technicians around the world to make repairs. Employees can use the HoloLens 2 headset to connect with a local technician in hologram form, guiding him or her through the work that needs doing.
Japan Airlines is using headsets to help train engine mechanics.
San Diego-based Ikin is more focused on the consumer market. Next year, it will launch a device that will project a transparent 3D hologram of the person you are having a video call with.
Ikin is the image source.
The image caption is.
Everyone with a smart phone will be able to switch from video to hologram calls with Ikin's RYZ product.
holograms are a more effective way of communicating than video conferencing, according to Gordon Wetzstein, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
You can use holograms to make eye contact. He says that you can read subtle clues like who is looking at whom.
He cautions that if these holograms become real that it will be hard to distinguish them from an actual person.
Mr Wetzstein says that if you can create digital or synthetic experiences that get closer to reality, you're more vulnerable to being manipulated.
One of the firm's earliest investors was Tim Draper, who was also an early backer of both Skype andTesla. Mr Nussbaum is confident that hologram technology will replace standard video screens in five years.
He thinks it will see off video screens. We'll replace every kiosk in every mall in no time. Businesses will want to present their content live or recorded.
Video calling.
A coronaviruses epidemic.
