'Hologram' Lecturers To Teach Students at Imperial College London

Imperial College London will be using holograms of lecturers to teach students from afar. 'Imperial will initially limit its use to its Business School's activities but expects the technology could eventually become common,' reports the BBC. From the report: Strictly speaking, the illusions are not holograms but neither are they the Pepper's Ghost effect used by politicians including French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well the entertainment industry. Instead, they use a technique developed by a Canadian company, Arht Media. 'The problem with Pepper's Ghost is that it can be intricate to set up and can cost about $200,000 to run an event,' said Dr David Lefevre, director of Imperial's Edtech Lab. 'This is simpler -- you project upon a glass screen, and a backdrop behind it uses software to give it an illusion of depth. 'It runs at the low thousands each time, so for the first time universities can afford it.' To send their image, lecturers need to use a 'capture studio,' which involves filming them against a black backdrop while being lit from both sides.

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