Mountain View, CA — It’s possible your next phone will be able to see your surroundings almost as well as you do. Google’s new Tango vision technology can build 3D maps in real-time that allow it to explore your environment with you.
This video imagines the possibilities of the real-time 3D tracking capability, like using indoor navigation to search for products in a store, or assisting visually impaired individuals in navigating their daily lives. It could be used to create more in-depth gaming experiences, especially in an augmented reality kind of setting where the game world is superimposed on the real one. At a most basic level, the technology adds an element of ease to reimagining interior designs and furniture placement by overlaying a virtual version of an object into Tango’s 3D rendering of a space.
Why does it matter?
This technology will take experiential marketing to a whole new level. Brands have the opportunity to facilitate a more interactive virtual relationship with consumers than before, providing virtual test products or interactive 3D worlds for them to explore essentially in the palm of their hand.
Communication between pharma, HCPs, and patients could be given streamlined clarity. For example, instead of deciphering step-by-step photos (captioned, if you’re lucky) to instruct a process or procedure, Tango could recognize the patient’s body and demonstrate directly (but virtually) on him or her – “show and tell” at its finest.
In the medical world, it could provide an easier, more efficient approach to surgery or treatment preparation. Maps of the human body could be used to design prosthetic limbs or to detail organ replicas to help in planning and practice. 3D printing has already proved the value of these models over 2D MRI or CT scan images, but Tango could facilitate it at a lesser cost, both in terms of time and money.
Tango provides a medium for brands to better understand their customer, not to mention directly demonstrate the influence the brand can have on any individual’s world. It’s an opportunity for us to really walk a mile in someone else’s shoes – or else invite them to take a stroll in ours.
