Swedish technology leader Ericsson imagined bringing coffee tables to life with sports data visualizations presented via hologram and then went out and did it.
Earlier this year Ericsson unveiled its PIERO Augmented Reality software. PIERO’s feature set initially debuted with sports analysts, projecting three dimensional sports data visualizations onto the studio floor.
For the home viewer, Ericsson also showed it could replace expensive studio tracking technology used in commercial systems with augmented reality lenses, and in this case Microsoft HoloLens.
Microsoft’s HoloLens combines components of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to create a “mixed reality” experience. Rather than entirely replacing a user’s surroundings as in previous VR applications, HoloLens introduces holograms to your real world. HoloLens is “the first fully self-contained holographic computer,” according to the product’s website.
Ericsson demonstrated how HoloLens and PIERO can transform a coffee table at September’s International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam. Attendees wearing HoloLens headsets relived a Euro soccer match between England and Iceland that was played in June from a mixed reality perspective.
The headset projected a holographic depiction of a soccer field, complete with scoreboard and surrounding stadium, onto a nearby table top, with Ericsson building the 3D models. Blue and red jerseys represented players from either team, and the jerseys were linked with visual overlays of player’s corresponding shots on goal.
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Users physically interacted with holograms displayed on the coffee table. Selecting a player within the mixed reality experience triggered statistics and choice highlights. For that, PIERO relied on Opta, a sports data provider that records and distributes data on close to 20,000 live sporting events a year, to fuel the statistical side of the experience.
Users wearing an equipped AR headset will potentially be able to ditch their reliance on stadium cameras, and change their vantage points on their own; simply by walking to the other side of the room, Ericsson research engineer Alvin Jude wrote in a blog detailing the demo.
Microsoft recently released the development edition of it HoloLens headset for purchase at a price point of $3,000.
The future of #SportsVisualization https://t.co/VSbkNCAxlX pic.twitter.com/w3ZQiEHH9m
— Ericsson Research (@EricssonLabs) November 16, 2016