Thanks to SingTel, I was invited to experience the new SingTel Experience Centre. It is located at Comcentre (right inside the SingTel Shop). It showcases technology that uses intuitive Minority Report-style body gestures to manipulate and interact with multimedia images on a giant 14-metre, 180-degree circular screen.

At the Experience Centre, you will be greeted by a globe that you can manipulate. It is actually a touch screen with highlights of a few countries (I will talk about them later). Behind the globe, you will see a 180 degree screen with 6 projectors and a few Kinect sensors.

What can you do?

Users can interact with the 14-m screen using gestures and captured by the Kinect sensors. First, user will need to select one of the three countries (that already have high resolution pictures loaded) on the globe. These countries are: Paris, Shanghai and Rio de Janeiro.

(picture courtesy from SingTel)

There are other countries with a “like” sign. You can touch these countries to “like” them. SingTel wants to know what other countries that users want to see in high resolution. They will track how many “likes” are on each country. Some of the countries are: Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and etc. The more popular countries may be featured in future. BTW, these high resolution pictures are taken by them.

Once a user select a country, the big screen will display that country. That is when the fun begins. You will need to use these gestures.

You can zoom in and out, pan the maps. By raising your hand and showing a binocular gesture, you will activate the binocular feature and zoom in to selected area.At any time, the screen can be shared by 5 users.

Check out this video to learn more about how to enjoy this SingTel Experience Centre. Make sure you watch it till the end 🙂 (Surprise)

Alternative, you can check out SingTel official video

So, what is this all about?

The people behind the project took the time to explain to us and answer our questions.

Basically, I think the Fact Sheet provided by SingTel sums up everything.

SingTel analyses data on how each user interacts with the system – what gestures they use, how quickly they learn, how they respond to tutorials, how they engage with natural gestures.

The information will enable SingTel to explore how the technology can be applied in real-life commercial applications.  For example, the technology may potentially be used to track customer movements and preferences in a retail environment or in crowded events.

SingTel will share the knowledge with its regional associates, so that all customers in the SingTel Group will benefit.  It plans to establish experience centres in other cities in the coming months.

SingTel is working with partners to explore video conferencing technologies that use life-size 3-dimensional holographic images.   It is also looking into eye-tracking technologies that may allow users to control virtual objects and electronic devices by sight.  If successfully implemented, this technology can change the way computers and household appliances are used.

From today, you can visit the Experience Centre at Comcentre during the SingTel shop opening hours. You can also check out the images taken by users in the Experience Centre website.

Click Here to SingTel Experience Centre Website

I suggest that you try it out yourself. It is actually quite fun.

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