Google is releasing an experimental tablet to help developers work on its project to create a smartphone with 3D sensors. Known as Project Tango, the aim is create hardware and software to track the full 3D motion of the device, while simultaneously creating a map of the environment. The sensors allow the device to make over a quarter million 3D measurements every second, updating its position and orientation in real-time, combining that data into a single 3D model of the space around the user.
The development kit comes with a 7-inch tablet running the new Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, 4GB RAM and 128 GB storage, as well as a motion tracking camera, integrated depth sensing, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth low energy and LTE. The device runs Android and comes with development APIs to provide position, orientation and depth data to standard Android applications.
Google will regularly update the algorithms and APIs and provide software updates to developers. Interested developers can sign up on the company's website to purchase the kit when it goes on sale later this year. It will cost USD 1,024.
