Nvidia channels Star Trek, shows off Project Holodeck VR
This virtual world isn't just for gaming. Nvidia says its virtual reality technology could be used to train the robots of the future.
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Star Trek fans, rejoice. Soon you could be spending your time inside your very own holodeck -- as an animated torso.
Taking a brief step away from GPU spec talk, Nvidia on Tuesday showed off a live demo of its new Project Holodeck VR tech at Computex in Taiwan, Taipei.
It's a virtual world, created through HTC's Vive headset, that allows users to experience the perks of the physical world -- manipulate physical objects! obey the laws of physics! -- but in a completely digital space.
During the demo, Nvidia set up three of its engineers backstage (kitted out with Vive headsets), speaking to them in real time. Onstage, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang brought up local Taiwanese e-scooter company Gogoro to talk through a 3D fly-through of one of its vehicles.
But the future of VR doesn't stop at shiny scooters and floating torsos. Nvidia wants to use the Holodeck to create virtual worlds to train artificial intelligence -- spaces where digital robots can repeat tasks endlessly and develop machine learning.
According to Huang, the Holodeck could be used to not only render designs for things like scooters, it could also fill out the whole production cycle.
"[The Holodeck can be used to] design the product, design the factory that's going to make the product and design the robots that are going to create the factory that are going to make the products," said Huang.
Keen for more Computex news? Check out CNET's full coverage from the Computex 2017 show floor.
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