The Holodeck Is Born

Sometimes laughter is worth a thousand pictures. 

The creative superstars at Ideo Labs have created what they call iCube, or what most would recognize to be a holodeck.  While you don’t get a complete first hand view of the experience, the reaction from the David in the video and the pictures on the wall give you an idea how amazing the experience is.  David’s “OMG I can’t believe how real this looks”–laughter is telling to its immersive nature.

Amazing 3D immersion technology from IDEO Labs on Vimeo.

I find it interesting how even though he knows he’s standing in a white 10x10x10 room, his mind completely assimilates the reality presented to him through the glasses.  Given the resolution of the screens, I can imagine the experience is breathtaking. 

Back in the 1990s, a game called Dactyl Nightmare gave me a first hand understanding of how much we rely on our visual cues.  Even though the graphics were blocky and not at all realistic, the experience gave the impression of a real space.  During the game, a pterodactyl grabbed me and dropped me from a great height.  The sensation of falling was realistic and my brother told me, my arms flailed around as if I were actually falling.  The promise of realistic AR experiences worries and excites me. 

For now the Ideo Labs project is still in development, and it’s unknown how many resources it takes to create the experience shown, but as technology constantly proves, it will take us places we never thought to exist.