Holograms may bring Tokyo Olympics closer to fans

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Japanese telecommunications company NTT has created a system that allows live sporting events to be projected via 3D hologram technology. It could be ready for use at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

NTT has been working on a new system it calls “Kirari! For Arena,” which, unlike its current technology, does not require sensors to be attached to an athlete’s body.

“From all four directions, you can see players projected in the field moving in 3D,” Kota Hidaka, senior research engineer at NTT Service Evolution Laboratories, said at a demonstration on Thursday.

“Kirari! For Arena” uses multiple cameras to track the movements of the player. Images are then transported to devices which show 3D hologram figures real-time in a different location.

Japanese telecommunications company NTT's "Kirari! for Arena" displays visual dancers among real ones during the company's exhibition of the system in Tokyo, February 22, 2018. /Reuters Photo

So, for example, fans unable to watch a karate match in an arena could watch 3D holograms of the fighters battling it out live.

“We are hoping to establish the system and deliver the service in which people can enjoy watching games by gathering around the 3D hologram,” Hidaka said.

The company is aiming to have the system ready by the time Tokyo hosts the next Summer Games.

NTT is an official sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics.

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Source(s): Reuters