So HP announced the Sprout – a fully-functional Windows 8.1 PC that ships on November.
What makes it stand out, however, is the way it mixes motion-recognition, real-time 3D scanning and projector technology to create a unique desktop experience.
This YouTube clip from HP ought to help clarify what the company has in mind with its pivot towards “blended reality.”
The technology is promising, and I can imagine four ways that the HP Sprout can really shine – or at least open up exciting new possibilities for later development:
Enhanced Gesture Controls
Why limit yourself to swipes and taps when you can grasp, swivel, pivot, bend, rotate, push and pull stuff?
We could see the first baby steps toward bringing the technologies featured in Minority Report and Iron Man into the average shopper’s living room.
Ergonomic Designing
Just imagine how easier design could be if you could actually draw, pull, cut, stretch and attach things using your hands.
Designers could then move beyond the limitations of two-dimensional design and digitally create stuff using the motions that come most naturally to them.
3D Cloning
Connect Sprout to 3D printer.
Put object in front of Sprout.
Have Sprout scan the object in 3D.
Wait for printer to finish cloning said object.
Profit.
Augmented Reality Gaming
Okay, so the Kinect and the PS Vita got around to AR gaming first.
The Sprout, however, could serve as a major game-changer for augmented reality gaming – no pun intended.
Two fully-interactive screens, 3D projectors and cameras concentrating on a focused workspace could open quite a few doors for a unique AR gaming experience – assuming one or more game designers have the vision to utilize what the Sprout has to offer.
Think HP is going somewhere with this new take on the PC? Think blended reality is just another gimmick that will pass in time?
Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below!
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