Microsoft is working on a new project that would transform the way we video chat with people, reports.

Microsoft Research's new augmented reality system called Room2Room projects a person into a room hologram-style, so that they appear to be sitting in a chair across from the person with who, they're speaking.

Room2Room works by using Microsoft's Kinect depth cameras and digital projectors to capture a 3D image of a person. A life-sized version of that person is then projected in real-time into another room so that they communicate with whoever is already in said room.

The team of Microsoft researchers tested the augmented reality video chat system with seven pairs of participants. In each pair, the participant that was projected was asked to give instructions and the other one sitting at a table was asked to follow the directions to build three-dimensional shapes with blocks.

The researchers found it took only 7 minutes for the pairs to solve the puzzles to build the shapes in augmented reality, compared with the 9 minutes it took using Skype's video chat.

bbabo.Net