

Google said to be working on a tablet with Project Tango 3D vision - testrun
http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/23/google-said-to-be-working-on-a-tablet-with-project-tango-3d-vision-powers/

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nighthawk24
This was announced earlier when they opened public requests to test the device
[https://www.google.com/atap/projecttango/](https://www.google.com/atap/projecttango/)

~~~
rch
> 7-inch screen

Sounds like it might be similar to the Nexus 7 form factor, and slightly
larger than the device you've linked to.

~~~
ok_craig
Also a larger production number. I didn't see it on the page but I think the
phone version was limited to 200 or less or something.

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ismavis
Another application of Project Tango, Quadcopter + Project Tango phone for
autonomous flight accurate to 1cm

[http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/aerial-
robots/au...](http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/aerial-
robots/autonomous-quadrotor-flight-based-on-google-project-tango)

~~~
mantrax5
That's the first good use for this tech I've seen, and yet a hilarious
demonstration why said tech shouldn't be stuffed in a phone.

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frik
How does Google's Project Tango work anyway?

It's not LIDAR, nor Stereo-camera or Kinect 1 tech (infrared laser combined
with a monochrome CMOS).

Does it use time-of-flight camera (like Kinect 2) or structure-from-motion
(like MS Photosynth, ETH Zurich app)?

Tango uses this special processor (so structure-from-motion could be possible,
as well as time-of-flight):

    
    
      It produces over 1 teraflop of processing power on only 
      a few hundred milliwatts of power
    

\-- [http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/20/inside-the-
revolutionary-3d...](http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/20/inside-the-
revolutionary-3d-vision-chip-at-the-heart-of-googles-project-tango-phone/)

The Wikipedia article is still a stub:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Tango](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Tango)

~~~
Qworg
From the iFixit teardown:
[http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Project+Tango+Teardown/23835](http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Project+Tango+Teardown/23835)

Tango has a Primesense structured light system, a structure-from-motion
coprocessor (or two) and a special depth sensing rear camera (IIRC).

~~~
rasz_pl
Hehe, google threw everything and a kitchen sink in there to cover all the
bases. Even Primesense ")

Looks like Movidius started out as a mobile GPU in 2005/2008 :o ... and ended
up being general purpose vector coprocessor / DSP

[http://www.hotchips.org/wp-
content/uploads/hc_archives/hc23/...](http://www.hotchips.org/wp-
content/uploads/hc_archives/hc23/HC23.19.8-Video/HC23.19.811-1TOPS-Media-
Moloney-Movidius.pdf)

50Gflops/W in 65nm. Adapteva Epiphany
[http://www.parallella.org](http://www.parallella.org) did 25 at 65nm, does
70Gflops/W in 28nm. Movidius projected 450Gflops/W at 28nm :o

~~~
hershel
With that great spec, why did google release tango with limited functionally,
and not as a full blown processor ? And is it their next step ?

~~~
duaneb
Full blown processors lead to full blown maintenance needs.

~~~
rasz_pl
Im sure cost is also a big factor. Endgame is a small VERY CHEAP design that
can be integrated with CMOS camera silicon.

Just like FLIR. They started with big expensive uncooled bolometers that
required analog amplification (+1 chip), digitization (+1 chip) and processing
(+1 more chip), and ended up producing all in one Lepton chip that interfaces
using MIPI like every cellphone camera. They went from sensor + 2 analog chips
+ fpga to one small piece of silicon.

After all Google wants every android phone of the future to be able to do
this. This means making every manufacturer buy additional hardware. It needs
to be cheap and easy to use.

In the end Tango will probably be a licensed core that camera manufacturers
can integrate into their own designs. One camera that does vision _and_ maps
environment on the side.

------
tbdr
based on my participation at a Tango hackathon (details on the hackathon and
the projects [http://palcu.blogspot.ro/2014/04/google-project-tango-
hackat...](http://palcu.blogspot.ro/2014/04/google-project-tango-hackathon-
in.html) and source code
[https://github.com/sketchdown/sketchdown](https://github.com/sketchdown/sketchdown))
I think they need more space and power for the hardware

