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Google's secretive 3D-mapping project now has a tablet: here it is
Comprehending the world around us is something we humans take for granted, but it's not so easy for our technology. Sure, autonomous robots and military-grade research labs have hardware that can approximate the same visual acuity of human eyes, but Google's Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP) division started Project Tango to bring that sort of tech to the masses. Its mission is to make mobile devices capable of using depth sensors and high-spec cameras to craft three-dimensional maps more cheaply and easily than other current efforts. ATAP announced its first piece of hardware in February, a prototype smartphone equipped with Kinect-like 3D sensors and other components, but the team is now expanding the project to a new form factor: a seven-inch tablet that's packed with a lot more power.
Drone equipped with Google's 3D-sensing phone won't be deterred
Google wants to put its Project Tango handsets in orbit, but researchers from the GRASP Lab at UPenn are keeping things on the down-low with one of their already-clever quadrotors. If you'll recall, Tango has a depth sensor, motion tracking camera and two Movidius vision processors to create an internal 3D map of its surroundings. That should, in theory, keep the drone aligned with pinpoint accuracy and no GPS signal. Judging by the video below, it worked perfectly -- the quadrotor stuck to a fixed point and pre-programmed flight path despite some healthy shoves. That should help future autonomous drones react better to their environment if we decide to send them out for, say, delivery duty.
Watch Google test its 3D-sensing phones on robots in zero gravity
Wonder what Google's Project Tango-equipped SPHERES robots will look like when they're in action aboard the International Space Station? The company is more than happy to show you. It has posted video of a recent test that took the machines on a zero gravity simulation flight to see how the 3D environment sensors and other systems will work in practice. As you'll see in the clip, it wasn't quite as easy as testing on the ground -- Google's ATAP team had to work during brief bursts of weightlessness that could challenge both the employees and the devices.
Project Tango teardown reveals the wonders of the phone's 3D sensing tech
Want to get a better understanding of Google's 3D-sensing Project Tango smartphone beyond the usual promo videos? iFixit is more than happy to show you now that it has torn down the device for itself. The close-up identifies many of the depth mapping components in the experimental handset, including the infrared and fisheye cameras (both made by OmniVision), motion tracking (from InvenSense) and dual vision processors (from Movidius).
Google's 3D-sensing phones are taking a trip to the International Space Station
It's arguably cool enough that Google is working on smartphones that can scan your surroundings, but now those devices are slated to take a spin in space too. How's that for living in the future? NASA first started sticking smartphones to machines back in 2011 when it used Samsung's Nexus S as the brains for a trio of robotic SPHERES satellite that use bursts of carbon dioxide to putter around the International Space Station. Those aging handsets will soon get the boot, as two of Google's Project Tango smartphones will hitch a ride on Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft when it resupplies the ISS in May. Why? The space agency is interested in seeing if the phone's spatial sensing abilities can help those floating robots navigate their surroundings better than they can right now. If it's lucky, NASA's zeal to upgrade the SPHERES' brains could ultimately lead to the development of a roaming robot that works as well outside the station (or around an asteroid) as it does inside a tin can hurtling around the earth.
