Israeli technology from Intel to power Google's 3-D 'Tango' project

The newest version of the Tango development kit will be available to Android software developers by the end of 2015.

By NIV ELIS
Updated: AUGUST 19, 2015 00:19
Google (photo credit: REUTERS)
Google
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The quick, 3-D processing technology largely developed by Intel’s teams in Israel is to power a collaboration between the chip-making giant and Google’s Project Tango, Intel announced on Tuesday.
Project Tango is a Google experiment in using smartphones and tablets to record an in-depth, 3-D environment.
By adding new measuring tools and special cameras to its experimental mobile devices, Google has challenged developers to create software that can scan a room, map it in 3-D, and then use for anything from virtual reality game play to indoor navigation.
Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich revealed that updates to the company’s RealSense technology, largely developed in Haifa and Jerusalem, would be collaborating with Google on Tango.
“Computers are on our desks, in our bags, in our clothes, in our homes and on our bodies.
They are not only growing smarter and more connected, but gaining senses and becoming an extension of ourselves,” Krzanich said at the conference.
The newest version of the Tango development kit is expected to be available to Android software developers by the end of 2015.
Thus far, Intel has offered its RealSense technology in cameras that come with a variety of tablets and laptops, and has demonstrated its abilities to sense what users are doing.
For example, the cameras can figure out how a person is moving their hands in front of the screen, allowing them to interact with software in three dimensions just using their hands, without a mouse or touching the screen.
Developers that have begun using Tango have, among other things, used it to create 3-D worlds and map out buildings.
Some clipped the tablet onto a headset, making it into a makeshift virtual reality helmet.
Others attached it to a Nerf gun, creating a shooter game experience that was half virtual and half real.