[Despite its current limitation, technology expert Charlie Fink is very impressed with the recently introduced Cisco Webex augmented reality holograms, as he reports in this story from Forbes. See the original version for two videos and two different images, and a related Forbes story about how McLaren Racing is using the technology “for a competitive edge in car design.” Fast Company’s first-person story about Cisco’s announcement of the technology last October clearly identifies the company’s goal: “Microsoft developed the ability to render a company’s product within the HoloLens; Cisco aims to add to the experience by making the people seem real.” Cisco’s press release adds this:
“’Our mission at Cisco is to empower the 3 billion digital workers on the planet to participate equally from anywhere in the world,’ said Jeetu Patel, executive vice president and general manager, Cisco Security and Collaboration. ‘Webex Hologram represents a large step toward our mission of delivering a delivering a work experience so seamless that there is no gap between virtual and in-person collaboration.’”
–Matthew]
[Image: Source: Cisco]
Cisco AR Holograms, The Call Of The Future
By Charlie Fink, Contributor
“I’m a former tech executive covering VR, AR and new media for Forbes.”
February 1, 2022
Cisco is now rolling out a photorealistic real time remote telepresence feature for its teleconferencing service, Webex Hologram, which has been slowly rolling out since October, 2021 with a handful of clients. The new service uses an array of cameras and a HoloLens or Magic Leap AR head-mounted display. This way I was able to interact with Cisco executives Cullen Jennings (CTO) and Jeetu Patel (EVP) as if they were virtually present in my office, and I in theirs. I’ve seen many impressive telepresence demos before, but nothing photorealistic like this.
Real time telepresence has been the goal of many tech companies, but no one has yet cracked the nut of real time photorealistic 3D avatars. Usually participants in a holographic call look like victims of a Star Trek transporter accident. In March, 2016, Microsoft research shared its vision of Holographic telepresence with a demo video of a man playing with his daughter. Unfortunately, like Meta’s October keynote movie, it was more special effects than reality. Valorem, a European Microsoft MVP, showed a very rough demo of Holobeam, a holographic conference solution for the HoloLens, at CES in 2018. It was discontinued soon thereafter. Spatial.io, which used super-realistic avatars created from photos in your social media profiles, was introduced on stage at Mobile World Congress by HoloLens topkick Alex Kipman in January, 2019. That company recently pivoted to creating galleries for NFTs.
Rene Schulte, Director, Global Innovation, at Valorem, was the senior developer on the Holobeam project. “I think it’s still quite impractical as you need a 3D camera like an Azure Kinect… I think this kind of virtual presence is a nice option for premium users in certain Metaverse solutions in the future when an avatar is not giving the desired presence.”
My Webex Hologram demo with senior executives using the HoloLens 2 provided by Cisco was very much a premium experience. It’s almost as good as the special effects in the Meta movie, but I was sitting with a Holographic Cullen Jennings right here in my office. Unlike the Zoom call which was running in the background during the demo, Cullen seemed physically present. It’s important to note that although I could see Cullen, he could not see me in the same way, because I don’t have the 3D camera array he does. If I were Microsoft, I’d be jumping through the phone, er, HoloLens. The killer app they had to fake in 2016 has finally come to life.
With Webex Hologram, the presenter can share both physical content and digital content that allows users to co-create and truly collaborate. Take an auto manufacturer, for instance. Participants can interact with a physical prototype of a vehicle that’s shared in the AR experience to examine and provide feedback on the vehicle’s engine and undercarriage. Design renderings of the car and other digital content can also be shared during the immersive experience.
“Webex Hologram is a powerful tool for design engineers, drivers and crews as we continue to reimagine hybrid sports and supporting our team on tracks around the world,” said Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing. “Rather than flying a technician to the racing team or explaining procedures through flat images, with the Hologram technology we can immediately show an engine component from every angle, convey sizing, and instruct on assembly and usage as if they were in person – all while saving countless hours in travel time.” Patel says this is exactly the type of use cases and tasks that Cisco is trying to drive.
“We’re bringing it out with customers to work through the use cases and deal with it.” Said Patel. “We have the capture array, we have the headset that works, and these are going to get much better over the next few years. And that improves the experience as well. We’re looking for headsets with larger vertical field of view. You can see more of the person in the space, better image, quality, better resolutions. Right now we’re largely limited by the headsets and the display experience. We’re looking to drive the right use cases, iterating with customers on what are the tasks that we’re going to go out with on this.”
A few times a year I see something that makes me go “wow.” This is one of those times.