Is your next home assistant a hologram? These MWC concepts offer 3 possibilities
Within our lifetimes we've seen a major evolution in how we communicate, with landlines, beepers, and flip phones becoming obsolete. Despite how advanced today's smartphone is, there are still more changes ahead in how we communicate, and that future may include holograms.
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Deutsche Telekom's "Concept T," presented at Mobile World Congress (MWC), combines a variety of new and cutting-edge technologies -- such as AI, hologram telephony, Wi-Fi sensing, computer vision, and Web 3 -- to create design studies showcasing what the future of communication may look like.
"Concept T is researching how hologram telephony, among other things, could become a reality," said Claudia Nemat, a member of Deutsche Telekom's Board of Management for Technology and Innovation. "Not on the shelves tomorrow, but in our heads and laboratories today."
The first design study of Concept T is "Concept view," which features Emma, an AI-based avatar that users would be able to chat with via a hologram to provide them with assistance in all aspects of their lives including shopping, picking out the perfect piece to complete their outfits, and even managing their cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
As a central point of contact for Deutsche Telekom service issues, Emma can also help with customers' connectivity needs, taking into account the customer's order history, products, and contracts for the best assistance.
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Design study 2, the "Concept level," takes the router as we know it and elevates it entirely. The base has conventional router features with a setup that can be customized with additional elements such as a cylindrical display with an AI voice assistant and a cone-shaped module that provides WiFi sensing with room monitoring.
Each one of these modules would be supplied power wirelessly and contactlessly via WiFi charging. The base would also be able to charge other devices -- including smartphones and smartwatches -- in the same way.
Lastly, in design study 3, the "concept buddy" features a little robot with a smiley face and all of the capabilities of the aforementioned "concept level." The "friendly butler" is mobile, has a projector, and can move around the house to ensure everything is running smoothly such as monitoring the air quality in the rooms.
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Other companies have attempted to make the last concept a reality, such as Amazon's Astro, now discontinued, and Samsung's Ballie, which is expected to hit the market later this year.