Google is prepping to test Project Starline in the real world, inviting more than 100 enterprise partners to demo the holographic video call technology.
Google's early access program kicks off this week with partners Salesforce, WeWork, T-Mobile, and Hackensack Meridian Health. Project Starline prototypes will also be installed in select partner offices before the end of the year.
Unveiled at last year's developer conference, the platform projects a 3D model of your body in real time onto a custom panel, creating the illusion of a face-to-face conversation.
Starline uses high-resolution cameras and custom-built depth sensors to capture a person's shape for the video call. HD images from the camera are then fused with the shape to create a 3D model, which gets compressed over 100 times to efficiently transmit over the internet.
"The technology works like a magic window, where users can talk, gesture, and make eye contact with another person, life-size and in three dimensions," according to Andrew Nartker, Google's director of Product Management. "It is made possible through major research advances across machine learning, computer vision, spatial audio, and light field display systems."
Google initially installed the technology in a handful of Google offices and has spent thousands of hours testing it. In theory, Starline can increase employee presence, attentiveness, and productivity compared to traditional video chat solutions.
"People have described the experience as a natural interaction—expressing how connected they felt to the other person sitting across from them," Nartker said.
"Whether you're presenting to a colleague or just sitting down for a coffee chat, we want the Project Starline experience to feel natural, as if the person is sitting in the same room as you. More broadly, we are eager to enable workforces to feel energized and productive when collaborating from afar."
It's unclear how much it costs to build a Starline terminal, or whether the booths will eventually become available to non-commercial or residential users.