Google Beam, known as Project Starline in developmental stages, is a video communication method developed by

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

that allows the user to see a

3D model In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, and ...

of the person they are communicating with. Google announced the product at its 2021 I/O developer conference, saying that it will allow users to "talk naturally, gesture and make eye contact" by utilizing

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

spatial audio 3D audio effects are a group of sound effects that manipulate the sound produced by stereo speakers, surround-sound speakers, speaker-arrays, or headphones. This frequently involves the virtual placement of sound sources anywhere in three-dimen ...

, computer vision and real-time

compression Compression may refer to: Physical science *Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces *Compression member, a structural element such as a column *Compressibility, susceptibility to compression * Gas compression *Compression ratio, of a ...

to create the 3D effect without the user wearing typical

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

goggles. The goal is to make the user feel as if they are in the same room with the other user.

Development

Project Starline had been in development for more than five years prior to the official announcement on May 18, 2021. The technology is currently only available in a small number of Google's offices, but the company plans to begin collaborating with certain partners in the next year, particularly partners in the healthcare and media industries. In November 2021, the project was reorganized under a new division called Google Labs (unrelated to the defunct service of the same name) along with

Area 120 Area 120 is Google's in-house incubator in which employees work on 20% Project product ideas. It has helped develop Gmail, AdSense, Google News, Call Center AI, and Aloud, YouTube's translation and dubbing tool. The Area 120 division was ...

and Google's AR and VR efforts. Google will begin testing the technology with corporations such as

Salesforce Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics, artificial intelligence, and ap ...

and

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

beginning in late 2022. In May 2024, Google stated that it was working on integrating Project Starline technology into

videoconferencing Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio signal, audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Vide ...

apps such as

Google Meet Google Meet is a video communication service developed by Google. It is one of two apps that constitute the replacement for Google Hangouts, the other being Google Chat. It replaced the consumer-facing Google Duo on November 1, 2022, with ...

and

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Zoom'' (2006 film), starring Tim Allen * ''Zoom'' (2015 film), a Canada-Brazil film by Pedro Morelli * ''Zoom'' (2016 Kannada film), a Kannada film * ''Zoom'' (2016 Sinhala film), a Sr ...

, announcing a partnership with HP. The HP Dimension, to be released in 2025 for US$24,999, is the first commercial version of Google Beam.

Booth

The current implementation of Project Starline is a booth that the user sits in, facing a "light field display", surrounded by depth sensors, cameras, and lights. Light field technology is a photography technique that captures the direction of light as well as its intensity and color to enable more effective 3D imaging. The user can then view another user on the display in 3D and vice versa. Google says it plans to "make this technology more affordable and accessible."

Reception

Jay Peters of ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' was impressed by a demo of Project Starline, comparing it to "real life science fiction".

References

External links

*
Research 2021 paper

Research 2024 paper
{{Google LLC Google hardware Augmented reality applications