Business Wire: Today Orbbec (www.orbbec3d.com), a manufacturer of 3D technologies, unveiled Orbbec Persee, the world’s first “camera-computer.” Persee integrates the Orbbec Astra Pro 3D camera with a powerful ARM computer on a single device. It is a versatile, low-cost device that can fit in the palm of your hand. It can plug into a TV or run without a display, and people can interact with it entirely through the built-in 3D camera. From 3D digital art, to robots that recognize and respond to people and educational applications that fully engage students, creative coders, makers, and pioneering developers can use Persee to build inventive 3D applications.
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Two or three decades ago we began a revolution driven by a simple XY coordinate grid of pixels driven by increasingly powerful computers. Today our screens are reaching resolutions of more than eight million pixels in a high end consumer device. While these numbers while inevitably continue to rise I think the era of the Z axis is coming and when it gets here it will transform the way we interact with technology. The first step is to find ways to create three dimensional images in real time with high degrees of accuracy based on our surroundings. This is the niche Orbbec is hoping to fill with this new device. Their approach is slightly different from the direction other major developments into 3d imaging. Unlike the most popular examples, which use a combination of cameras and IR range sensing technology this new device relies on two horizontally mounted cameras who’s images are then combined to determine depth of field and color much like human eyes. This means the device can shoot 3d video which can then be modified and fed directly to a display as viewable content.
Yes, Orbbec may be leading the way in developing 3D camera technology, but I doubt things will stay that way for long. Personally I think it's only a matter of time before a larger company like Sony or Samsung either tries to buy them out or begins to rapidly work towards building a better 3D camera. Don't get me wrong the hardware Orbbec has produced is pretty astounding, I just have doubts that a small forefront company will be able to remain the leading producer of 3D cameras for long. Of the ideas Orbec has put forward, the one I think is most interesting is their choice to make their camera, the Persee, its own computer. While this is a great idea for developing apps and allowing software makers to develop programs that allow users to tap into the cameras full range of abilities, it is also somewhat short-sighted, as consumers ultimately seek integration rather than functionality. In the end 3D cameras will never hit mainstream markets and be used by everyone as the company predicts, unless the technology is integrated into commonplace devices like laptops and phones. By creating their camera as its own stand alone device Orbbec has done the technology field a great favor by allowing innovators to prototype and test the potential of what 3D cameras can do, but ultimately Orbbec won't find success of their own unless they can create a more improved version of their camera that can be integrated into other computer systems.
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