Google is serious about its giant video chat booths, starts real-world testing

Google actually seems serious about its wild “Project Starline” video booth idea. The mysterious project was announced as part of the Google I/O 2021 keynote but was initially overshadowed by more tangible Wear OS and Android announcements. It’s a year later now and Google is still plowing ahead with the idea, announcing expanded enterprise testing with third parties. Google says it’s also working on making Starline “more accessible.”

Project Starline basically asks the question, “What if Zoom was a giant, sit-down arcade machine?” While the home console version of video chat just involves a tiny camera above your laptop screen, Starline brings 3D video chat to life in a 7×7-foot sit-down booth, with seemingly no regard given to cost, size, or commercialization. The goal is to make it seem like the other person is in the room with you, and Google categorizes it as a “research project.”

As for what Starline actually is, a Google Research paper contains a good amount of detail. The display side of the video booth features 14 cameras and 16 IR projectors, which all work to create, capture, and track a real-time, photorealistic 3D avatar of the user. Four microphones and two speakers don’t just play back speech; spatialized audio and dynamic beamforming supposedly make the speech sound like it’s coming out of the avatar’s mouth.

Sending a 3D avatar over the video chat connection allows Google to correct for eyeline, which is continually a problem with normal video chat. Where a webcam…