No that long ago it was a big deal to be able to scan and digitize a single, flat document. This is a system that allows for near real-time scanning of a three-dimensional environment and translation into CG with surface normals. My first thought upon seeing this was patching this data into a remote sensor on an optic nerve and enabling blind individuals to see. I’m not sure how close we are to bridging that gap between biology and technology, regarding rejection, but I know in other areas with primates we have successfully transferred neurological impulses in the other direction. In any event this seems very promising, maybe for live virtual reality applications and simulations, or just making it easy to assimilate an environment and then adjust it further.
You can learn more about this Microsoft technology here.
What I like about this in general is that this illustrates how technology can be used for multiple purposes. In this case sales from one device as a gaming device enable further research into other areas.
Eric Chamberlain 