It wasn’t until the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show that VR burst back on the scene, backed by a range of big names. Perhaps the one thing which gave VR its new momentum was the acquisition by Facebook of Oculus Rift in 2014. Since then, technology companies appear to have been fighting each other for leadership in the field.
What has also emerged as a viable technology is augmented reality, or AR, where the view of the ‘real world’ is supplemented by computer generated imagery. Looking to develop a niche for itself, Intel has begun to refer to AR as ‘merged reality’.
Meanwhile, a similar technology has been developing quite nicely – gesture recognition. From the starting point of touchscreens, gesture recognition has moved into the third dimension and is an area in which Intel has shown great interest, launching its Perceptual Computing platform, recently renamed as RealSense. Showing its enthusiasm for VR, Intel has launched Project Alloy, which it describes as an all in one VR solution which deploys RealSense technologies optimised for VR.
All of a sudden, seemingly, computer vision has become the ‘killer app’ for which the industry has been searching.
Microsoft has thrown its hat into the ring with HoloLens, a mixed reality system that blends 3D holographic content with the real world. The computer games companies have also developed similar approaches; Sony has announced that its PlayStation VR headset will launch in October. And Qualcomm used the recent IFA event in Berlin to introduce the Snapdragon VR820 reference platform.
Of all the contenders, Intel appears to be making a significant effort to claim a big slice of the computer vision market. In May, it acquired Itseez, a developer of computer vision algorithms. Itseez’ technology was said at the time to be a key ingredient in Intel’s roadmap. Now, the company has added Movidius to its stable.
Announcing the deal, Josh Walden, general manager of Intel’s New Technology Group, said: “We’re entering a world where devices must be smart and connected. When a device is capable of understanding and responding to its environment, entirely new and unprecedented solutions present themselves.”
Intel says it has built its RealSense through the acquisition of critical technologies. “Simply put,” Walden continued, “computer vision enables machines to process and understand their surroundings. Cameras serve as the ‘eyes’ of the device, the CPU is the ‘brain’ and a vision processor is the ‘visual cortex’.” And, showing the extent of Intel’s ambitions, Walden believes computer vision will enable navigation and mapping, collision avoidance, tracking, object recognition, inspection analytics and more. “Capabilities that are extremely compelling in emerging markets,” he contended.
And one of those emerging markets for computer vision is automotive. Already, cars are beginning to take advantage of multiple cameras in order to provide so called ‘driving assistance’. But autonomous vehicles will need more capable technology if they are to make safe real time decisions.
Walden is beyond enthusiastic about the prospects. “Computer vision will trigger a Cambrian explosion of compute,” he contended.
The Cambrian explosion is a term used by scientists to explain the rapid appearance of most forms of life. If Walden is correct, what kind of computer based life might we be spawning?