(this article was originally published at https://ceoworld.biz/2023/10/11/arht-made-me-a-hologram-for-a-day/ by Riccardo Pandini, October 11, 2023)
This September, I received a very intriguing email: “You are invited to become a hologram in London”. The company that invited me was ARHT, a Canadian company that’s known as a pioneering global leader in live hologram technology.
My mind immediately took off, traveling without limits to an almost futuristic reality. My imagination was encouraged by the knowledge that the whole technology market is constantly expanding. I’d have never expected to see what I saw. The experience showed me a new world, one that I wasn’t aware of.
I could see how a hologram is made and the work behind the scenes, understanding how far this growing field has already gone.
Holograms may seem something too futuristic, yet they’re closer than we think. Holograms are, in a sense, how we can dissolve the distinction between what is virtual and what’s real. This is what I understood when I walked into the AHRT space in Hammersmith.
As soon as I entered this room, I was asked to sit in front of a large white panel. The person at my side called his colleague, who immediately appeared on the panel as a hologram and started talking and interacting with me.
It was something innovative, which projected me into a future already in our current present.
To understand a little more, I asked if a definition of a hologram could be given. It is only with definitions that you can really start to metabolise something; if you can’t define it, the confusion continues to grow.
Holography is a technology that produces three-dimensional images by using a wave front that is used to record and later re-construct the image. Holography can also be working with the art of illusion, which is a more accessible technique nowadays, like ARHT is using. You create the illusion of depth by optimising the way you record and display content.
The most interesting thing about the holograms market is the fact that is categorised on type, component, dimension, holographic images, usage, technology, and end user, with an incredible potential grow in the next years. To help understand what I’m saying, AHRT showed me two different hologram technologies, with different markets, clients, and target sectors.
The major factors attributable to the growth of holograms market are due to the increasing application of holograms to a wide range of sectors such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, research organisations, academic medical centres, hospitals and clinics, security and many more.
It is precisely the use of holograms in all these different areas, some an unimaginable, that is making this sector a must. The revolution that this market could bring to our lives is important and has several positive implications. To name a few, in addition to the time and cost savings required when travelling, one must also consider the lower pollution emissions due to non-transportation.
And nevertheless, with the latest pandemic, we have noticed how much we want to socialise, both in person and through virtual contexts. Perhaps this technology could be the right answer, the one that converges both modalities.
