NYU Works on Video Tech That Might Improve Virtual, Mixed Reality Streaming

NYU Tandon School of Engineering is developing an immersive three-dimensional video tech for dance education that might actually be used to improve virtual and mixed-reality streaming.

NYU Gets Million Dollar Grant for the Project

The groundbreaking research was made possible through a $1.2 million four-year grant from the National Science Foundation. According to NYU Tandon's website, the project is targeted to make Point-Cloud Video (PCV) technology appropriate for streaming into a standard Internet-connected device.

Compared to the traditional video with 2D pixels, PCV is able to capture scenes as point clouds, which are data points in 3D space. Hence, this makes it perfect for an immersive video environment where users can observe the objects and their surroundings from any angle and distance, mirroring physical presence.

The project will be done to help improve dance education by making the learning process more available to a diverse range of students. NYU is positive to broaden the creative possibilities for artists. Dancers from Mark Morris Dance Group's Dance Center and the Department of Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts will participate in the PCV streaming test.

From Dancing to Immersive Mixed Reality Experience

Participants' movements will be streamed live and on-demand through the use of the PCV testbed from the researchers. Moreover, NYU Tandon's dean Jelena Kovačević acknowledged the other opportunities that the research can do stating that the university is open to cross-disciplinary research and bridging engineering to new fields.

"The success of the proposed research will contribute towards wide deployment of high quality and robust PCV streaming systems that facilitate immersive augmented, virtual and mixed reality experience and create new opportunities in many domains, including education, business, healthcare and entertainment," research team leader Yong Liu added.

The researchers also shared that they are looking forward to understanding and building other possibilities with 3D video. The team is also hopeful to give students and practitioners insight into how computers, engineering, and media can work together as one.