Jul 28, 2017 · 24m · a16z
Matthew Turk
0:00 / 0:00
▶ Watch on YouTube →
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
At the Andreessen Horowitz Academic Roundtable, Professor Matthew Turk presents 'Being There,' an augmented reality project that frames spatial computing as human sensory augmentation to enable real-time remote physical collaboration.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 0.0 Guest teaching 2.3 Guest disagreement 0.1 The host pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 0:09 Playful challenge on audience AR knowledge
Turk teasingly suggests that a portion of the audience thinks they know what augmented reality is but actually do not.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 17:58 Audience technical interruptionAudience member Rich interrupts to ask whether essential and homography matrices are time-correlated across camera frames.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 19:58 Explaining 2D annotation distortion in 3D spaceTurk uses visual examples to demonstrate why simple 3D spray-paint projection fails when viewing annotations from alternate viewpoints.
The host holds their own ▶ 17:58 Addressing technical audience query on camera trackingTurk fluently explains how human physical movement patterns dictate the frame grouping hierarchy between 2D and 3D matrices.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title Card and Presentation Opening | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Matthew Turk opens his presentation with childhood stories about wanting superpowers to introduce augmented reality concepts. Host scores are zero as this is a solo talk segment. | |
| Defining Augmented Reality and Practical Demonstrations | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Turk defines AR experientially rather than technically, illustrating with the virtual yellow line in televised football games. Host scores remain zero in this monologue. | |
| Survey of AR Domain Applications Across Industries | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Turk surveys industry applications of AR and introduces the 'Being There' project for remote physical collaboration. Host metrics are zero in this presentation segment. | |
| Limitations of Conventional Communication and Project Objectives | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Turk plays a video demo showcasing how a remote expert guides a local novice through computer hardware assembly using spatial annotations. Host scores remain zero. | |
| Automotive Repair Remote Collaboration Case Study | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Turk describes an automotive repair scenario and breaks down the system architecture into three core research obstacles. Host scores remain zero. | |
| Environment Modeling: Combining SLAM and Panoramic Tracking | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Turk details merging 3D SLAM with 2D panoramic homography and fields a brief technical question from audience member Rich regarding time correlation of frames. Host scores are zero. | |
| The Annotation Rendering Challenge: Inferring User Intent | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Turk demonstrates how standard 3D projection distorts user annotations from different camera angles and presents a gesture-enhanced solution. Host scores remain zero. | |
| Presentation Summary and Remaining Technical Obstacles | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Turk concludes by highlighting ongoing research into dynamic non-rigid objects and outlining commercial opportunities through his startup Cognate. Host scores are zero. |
Statements from this episode (9)
Matthew Turk: Augmented reality can give users virtual superpowers
“So what I ended up doing eventually is creating technologies, ah, for superpowers. So, you know, maybe I don't have super strength, but, you know, I can give people superpowers through certain technologies.”
Matthew Turk: AR achieves X-ray vision, invisibility, and teleportation
“So all of those things are done these days. X-ray vision, seeing the invisible, changing size, teleportation, done in the area of augmented reality.”
Matthew Turk defines AR by human experience, not hardware
“My definition of AR is, is not really a technical definition. It's an experiential definition, which is integrating digital information into real world experiences in real time. Ok, it's not fundamentally about technology. It's fundamentally about people and t…”
Matthew Turk: Dentistry is a strong practical application for AR
“And so I think I can add to my list dentistry as being, you know, a really good application of AR.”
Matthew Turk: Remote AR collaboration requires independent viewpoints
“If you're just stuck with my viewpoint, seeing through my eyes, that's not really the same as if you were standing here with me and we were looking at something together. So the ability to have a independent viewpoint and the ability to independently explore t…”
Matthew Turk: AR telecollaboration outperforms Skype for physical tasks
“So the two of these two people can collaborate quite successfully on this physical task in a way that's hard to do, again, with just telephone or Skype or something like that.”
Matthew Turk: Real-time mobile 3D models are inherently noisy
“Now, it's not going to be some, you know, beautiful, pristine, nice three-D model. It's kind of messy, it's kind of noisy and we have to deal with what we're given there.”
Matthew Turk: AR annotations require inferring intent from 2D gestures
“So we have to figure out a way to make two D annotations on a screen be rendered correctly from different perspectives? Because we have two different people, you know, looking at things from different perspectives. So, what did the user intend is the real ques…”