Google Beam Brings 3D Video Calls to 20 USO Locations

Photo Credit: Google

Google is deploying its Beam 3D video conferencing technology at 20 United Service Organizations locations around the world, allowing active military members to communicate with family members through the platform, the company announced. It puts the company's holographic calling system into service for a specific audience separated from loved ones by deployment.

The deployment comes after a pilot that linked a Beam system at Fort Bliss, Texas, with another in Poland. Google has published a promotional video that features soldiers on the platform in the setting this program was built to serve.

Google Beam, previously known as Project Starline, combines an array of six cameras, video models driven by AI and a dedicated light display. Together they render people as realistic three-dimensional holograms in real time. Head tracking and spatial audio round out the effect. The result is a sense of presence that conventional flat video calls do not deliver.

The technology creates an impression of sitting across from the other person rather than watching them on a screen. Google describes the experience as rendering people life-sized, with the effect designed to preserve eye contact and the sense of holding another person's gaze.

Whether the USO program points toward a broader consumer or enterprise rollout remains unclear. Google has not detailed any wider availability tied to this deployment, and the USO installation stands on its own for now. We are keeping an eye out for any indication that Beam will expand beyond these targeted sites.

For the moment, the 20 USO locations are among the real-world deployments of a technology that has spent years in demonstrations and pilots.