Development of 3D sensor for 'iPhone X' chipset is necessary for integrated use of AI and AR
Combining gesture and emotion recognition capabilities beyond voice commands will meet consumer demand

In the movie Minority Report, there is a scene where the main character projects 3D projections in the air and accesses and analyzes information using only hand gestures. It is expected that 2018 will be the year when we will see results in realizing scientific scenes that we have only seen in our imaginations. Technologies that seemed impossible, such as AR/VR, motion recognition interfaces, and self-driving cars, have already become partial realities and are moving toward complete realization. This is through the fusion of AI and AR that realizes information in front of our eyes and recognizes our movements.

According to Digieco’s 2018 Mobile Trend Report, “AI will begin to understand space and recognize people and objects within the space,” and artificial intelligence and augmented reality platforms will be the hot topics. It also said, “This will be a year in which AR technology is added to AI applied to various fields, evolving from terminals to robots.”


A scene from the movie Minority Report shows people accessing augmented reality information using hand gestures.

In fact, AR has been implemented through Google's ARCore and Apple's ARKit, but it seems difficult to expand with a single technology. In the early days of mobile AR, there is a need for 'chipset development for on-device AI support' to power object recognition functions such as 'Google Lens', and '3D sensor development' to add 3D depth recognition functions.

Apple developed its own 3D object recognition function chip and installed it in the iPhone X. It utilized AR by recognizing the three-dimensional structure of an object with a 3D lens and judging, processing, and transmitting the image. In order to lead the mobile trend, Samsung Electronics also recently mass-produced related semiconductors and hinted at providing an AR service based on object recognition.

Combining AI and AR through voice commands
AI speakers have shown the potential for motion control. Amazon's Alexa and Google's Amazon Echo have created an environment where basic household needs can be handled by voice, with 'shortcut button-type voice commands' being added, in addition to 'simple information search'. In addition, the introduction of AI speakers such as Apple's HomePod, KT's Giga Genie, and Kakao Mini is picking up speed.



Accordingly, the 'multimodal interface' that brings up the screen through voice commands and controls it with hand movements is expected to become the core. However, it is expected that it will still take time to replace the controller with movement. Ultimately, only when movement and emotion recognition are implemented will the augmented reality terminal users expand to general consumers. The recent introduction of the Aura quadcopter drone, which can be moved by hand gestures without a controller, shows the potential of this.

In this way, 2018 is expected to be a year in which artificial intelligence, which is expanding its influence as its application expands to various fields, will be augmented with the addition of 'eyes', and it will be possible to confirm the possibility of replacing people in some fields. As domestic and foreign companies enter the market, it is expected that Internet terminals that do not have sensor technology development and artificial intelligence added, and terminals that cannot become robots will gradually be eliminated.