Bringing Holograms Into Our Post-Pandemic World

Remember watching any of the Star Trek shows and seeing them in the holodeck? The space crew members created scenarios with their computers where they could move around and interact as if it was the real thing. Science fiction projecting a future where nothing was impossible.

During the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Parade to wrap up the celebratory weekend, the 260 year old golden carriage Her Majesty rode in on the day of her coronation 70 years ago was part of the parade. Peering out from inside the coach was a hologram of the Queen as she appeared that day.

Talk about shades of Star Trek coming to life. I’ve seen clips in the last few years of holograms of famous people appearing on stage in various venues. A stage can be setup and managed to accomplish displaying a hologram. This really was pretty cool that it was being used in a moving vehicle, a 260 year old vehicle. Not exactly built with holograms in mind.

True Hologram Images Are Underway

I started looking around to see where hologram technology is these days. There are definitely some cool uses afloat. Some of the uses have been accelerated by the pandemic. As people needed to stay away from each other or were restricted from travel to venues technology like holograms drew more attention.

This company, LightField Labs, has been developing lifelike holograms somewhat similar to the one used for the Queen. I had looked at the footage on their site of this hologram, but it didn’t really appear to be much more than cool graphic effects.

Check out the video of the CNet reporter exploring the hologram and demonstrating that it’s a 3D rendering in the air, not projected onto a screen. Well there is a screen but it’s not something you see or really notice. They are the highest density images yet.

With 10billion pixels per square meter, the images can be scaled up to much larger sizes, like a room full of imagery. The brief imagery of a large sneaker and dinosaur was pretty cool.

Overcoming Zoom Fatique

Being able to connect via video helped to keep connections alive during the pandemic. While it was better than no connection, Zoom meetings didn’t quite cut it for connecting virtually. Hologram technology has started improving the process by moving people out of the Hollywood Squares style screen into more realistic meeting settings.

Or, if you need to be at the opening of a new resort in one part of the world but find yourself stuck in another part, beam your hologram over and appear on stage. They can bring back the dead or hold an awards show without an in person host.

The Technology Is In The Early Stages

Hologram portals and studios are currently pricey and in some ways clunky. So were mobile phones when they first started appearing. As development continues the equipment will become smaller and more portable. Expect to see equipment that will let you beam your NFTs out of your wallet to display at home.

One of the videos I watched showed a phone attachment expected to be released next year that will let you move objects off your phone into a hologram to beam out to another device. That is looking pretty rudimentary so far but shows a taste of how we might be using holograms in the future.

Tech just keeps on connecting us no matter how far we are away.

NOTE: Header Image from Pixabay.com

Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.

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