Intel recently unveiled its Project Tango, which will bring the capability of sensing depth into smartphones. The company also recently exhibited its RealSense cameras which are capable of scanning a room in 3D within a few seconds. This technology could pave Intel’s way into the smartphone market.
However, Qualcomm had already introduced a similar technology a few months earlier in phones that were running on the company’s Snapdragon processors. With these recent announcements, it has become clearer that both Intel and Qualcomm are actively working on the introduction of computer vision in devices including smartphones and drones.
Prior to devices like smartphones and drones, Intel has been working on introducing computer vision in PCs and tablets. With the introduction of Windows 10, the application of computer vision has also expanded as this version of Windows utilizes Intel’s RealSense feature to unlock the computer by scanning the user’s face. However, in the context of PCs, computer vision technology is not considered to be revolutionary because such devices are constrained due to their size and they are not truly portable. However, in case of smartphones and drones, such technology could have a multitude of applications.
According to senior vice president of Qualcomm, Raj Talluri, the applications for depth sensing increase when the device is handheld. In addition to that, he said that phones have outnumbered PCs, therefore the introduction of such technology in phones could have a real impact.
With regard to drones, the manufacturers currently added features such as camera, processor, Wi-Fi, and GPS from multiple vendors. However, Qualcomm intends to integrate all these features in a single chip which will make drone manufacturing much more efficient and cheaper. Such technology could also help integrate computer vision into drones. Intel, on the other hand, has already started working with Ascending Technologies to develop computer vision for drones.
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