Star Trek's holodeck is a famous science fiction concept. Crewmembers could walk through
the garden of their childhood home, re-enact famous historical events or watch full, 3-D performances
of famous plays. It was a rich source of story lines for the Star Trek writers because the
holodeck offered so many opportunities to work, rest and play.
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Crewmembers could also learn by using simulations to acquire new skills or execute training drills.
They could simulate surgery, flight, and engine repairs in a truly realistic environment.
The holodeck is still science fiction, but last year researchers took the first, confident steps towards
its realisation with the Coherent project.
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This EU-funded research project, developed a commercial,
true 3-D display that could one day be called Holodeck version 1.0. It is called HoloVizio.
Innovation intensive
The HoloVizio is a 3-D screen that will allow designers to visualise true 3-D models of cars, engines or components.
Better yet, gesture recognition means that observers can manipulate the models by waving their hands in front of
the screen. The function offers enormous scope for collaboration across the globe.
"The aim of the COHERENT project was to create a new networked holographic audio-visual platform to support
real-time collaborative 3-D interaction between geographically distributed teams," explains Akos Demeter,
spokesperson for the project.
Star Trek's holodeck is a famous science fiction concept. Crewmembers could walk through the garden of their
childhood home, re-enact famous historical events or watch full, 3-D performances of famous plays.
The holodeck is still science fiction, but last year researchers took the first, confident steps towards
its realisation with the Coherent project. (Credit: iStockphoto)
Two applications drove the design of the basic networked audiovisual components – a collaborative visualisation system
for the medical sector and a collaborative design review system for the automotive industry.
The researchers based the display component on innovative holographic techniques that can present, at natural human
interaction scale, realistic animated 3-D images simultaneously to an unlimited number of freely moving viewers.
No goggles required
The upshot is that users do not need goggles, and the 3-D image is maintained as they move about – both in contrast
with early attempts at holographic displays. But the real star of the Coherent project is not simply the display.
The researchers made exciting advances in enabling applications that show the system's real potential.
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The COMEDIA application, for example, uses raw data from medical imaging devices to create 3-D models of anatomy.
The development, led by Coherent partner CRS4 Visual Computing, demonstrated the system to 50 clinicians in Italy.
"The strength of the COMEDIA system is related to the collaboration, discussion and evaluation of clinical cases,
since it provides users with an immediate 3-D understanding of the anatomy shown," explains Demeter.
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COMEDIA led to the 'Holo-Heart' series of seminars last year.
Art's hidden secrets
CRS4 also developed rendering and visualisation software that may reveal the artistic secrets of the great masters,
like Michelangelo. A scan of his famous David revealed that the eyes diverge.
It is impossible to see this by standing in front of the statue, because of its height and the position of the left
forearm. But it becomes clear when viewed through the COHERENT system, and theorists posit that Michelangelo wanted to
present two different faces of the same character.
Coherent also led to the development of the COLLAUDA application for collaborative automotive design. The application,
developed with CS Systemes d’Information and Peugeot in France, led to a series of demonstrations to potential end users.
The demonstration led to a new project collaboration, named ARIVA, which starts in June 2008.
Oil exploration
Finally, COHERENT's researchers explored the potential for applying holographic systems for oil exploration, using
Shell's data. The system displayed real examples of subsurface data. Holografika, the Hungarian research company behind
the Holovizio system, developed a lot of the core technology used by the project.
In all, the team developed useful applications for a leading edge, emergent technology, explored excellent commercial
opportunities and perfected holographic and allied systems for real-world use. The research also stimulated enormous
interest in the area and prompted a wave of activity in the sector. But history, perhaps, will remember the Coherent
project as the precursor to a real world holodeck.
The project received funding from the EU's Sixth Framework Programme for research.
Note: This story has been adapted from a press release issued by ICT Results.
Earth was different in the past and it will look different in the future. Seemingly invisible
changes are taking place every day.
No one knows why some people survive lightning strikes while others do not.
Lightning kills more people in the developed world than any other natural phenomenon.
Still some people being struck by lightning twice or more - miraculously survived. It is a true mystery.
..
The creation of new oceans, rivers, and seas is usually a slow geological process. In the case of the Afar Triangle near
the Horn of Africa a new ocean is forming more rapidly than geologists expected. The new ocean will in time split Africa
apart
...
"These apparitions are usually rejected by scientists and accepted by theologians.
Is it possible that the figure of Virgin Mary is in fact a holographic projection produced by
advanced alien beings that are trying to communicate with us, or are testing our behavior when
confronting with the unknown? Or perhaps they want to find out how important religion is to us...?"
"Not long ago, the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer onboard NASA's Cassini orbiter captured an
odd, six-sided feature known as hexagon circling the north pole of Saturn. It is generally known that these
rather bizarre geometric shapes appear at the centres of
swirling vortices in planetary atmospheres. Interesting and unexplained is that Saturn's poles are so
different....."
Strange things happen out there in space. Many of them remain a true mystery because all known
laws of physics can not be applied to solve them.
New laws of physics are needed to face the most mysterious occurrences in the Universe...
Interesting is that everything seems to be so
perfectly planned and organized that the object's orbit is stable and Cruithne will never
strike the earth.…
The vast, almost supernatural powers attributed to supposed
extraterrestrials are hard to imagine even in our
scientifically advanced 21st Century but before we even consider
this aspect, let us examine some of the almost superhuman powers available to us mere mortals right here on earth.
In Japan, as well as elsewhere, advanced students of
Aikido sit outdoors in quiet meditation in their underwear in -10 degrees F weather and perspire...
Many "things" have fallen down from the sky and these incredible events have been inscribed in
historical records throughout the ages. There have been falls of frogs, fish, snakes and worms.
Pieces of meat, flesh, insects, blood, colored dusts, ice, stones and bricks have also been
reported to fall from the heavens.
Among other "things" falling are also substances in diverse forms of rain.
