“Communication breaks down even with a subtle little thing,” Vertegaal said. “When you think about preserving human communication, it’s more about what you leave out rather than what you add. With this system, we’re trying to leave out as little as possible.”
Roel Vertegaal of the Queen’s University Human Media Lab discusses the benefit of making remote communication more natural with the TeleHuman projection system. The device allows for a 3D image to be projected at life size into an environment and further allows users to glean subtle information about a presenter that would have been lost by transmission in 2D. While this device isn’t perfect (yet), the technology already has clear classroom implications. Imagine sending yourself to any campus in the Commonwealth without going anywhere at all. Certainly much less jarring for the learner than the alternate, “Big Brother” on TV approach.
Check out the video for a few previews of how the TeleHuman system works:
There’s more about the TeleHuman and its sister, BodiPod at Wired‘s site.