Going to eat in a good restaurant is one of the oldest pleasures in life, which has been updated as technology advances. We started listening to the servers offer us the menu of the day, then the prints and panels showing the options arrived and now, just by scanning a QR code, we have access to the menu.
In the menu, physical or digital, many restaurant chains put images of the dishes they offer, because the food enters through the eyes and because some dishes have strange names they are simply not known by the customers who are in the place.
For example, if a couple travels to Paris, France, arrives at a restaurant and the ratatouille dish is available on the menu, without description or images, it is likely that before ordering it they would prefer to see a photograph to know what it looks like.
To fix that, the technology is taking it a step further with augmented reality and a device called the HoloLamp.
How does Holo Lamp work?
According to a report on the website of computer today, HoloLamp is a device that projects a 3D image, without the need for augmented or virtual reality glasses or a smartphone.
With the team, diners can see the menu items on their tables, in real size, like an augmented reality layer. The following image reveals how it is appreciated.
HoloLamp is made up of a projector, which uses perspective to simulate a three-dimensional image. The objects, in this example the saucers, were previously photographed from different angles and converted into 3D digital files with the Unity engine.
Diners can make hand gestures to scroll through the images of the different dishes until they find the one they prefer. They can even request it from a gesture interface. HoloLamp has a motion sensor camera that detects both gestures and the position of the hands.
For now, this is an idea under development, but when it reaches restaurants, it will undoubtedly change the pleasure of eating.